We have an annual Young Authors' Festival where a a children's or YA author is invited to speak.
In 2013 we had
Matt Faulkner speak at our first annual Young Authors' Festival. He is both an illustrator and author, and is a phenomenal speaker. We have booked him again for next fall, along with his wife Kris Remenar; her first children's book, "Groundhog's Dilemma," was published last year and illustrated by Matt.. I contacted him directly without going through an agent.
Last year we had
Gary Schmidt as our speaker. His books tend to be middle school to YA. He was also very engaging and interesting. We went through his agent, Hayley Gonnason at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Hayley.Gonnason@hmhco.com
Toni Buzzeo was also a wonderful speaker for us in 2104. We booked her directly.
This last week-end,
Christopher Paul Curtis spoke at our festival and everyone loved him. Our bookstore ran out of books to sell. 8-( We booked him directly.
Just a warning that honorariums can be high for those who have won major awards/honors. Of the authors we have booked, Matt was the most reasonable.