Rainbow Round Table Announces Recipient of the 2026 Harlequin Trade Publishing (HTP) Books & RRT Conference Travel Grant

Em Dickson (e/em/eir; she/they) has been selected as the winner of the 2026 Harlequin Trade Publishing (HTP) Books & RRT Conference Travel Grant. E is a Librarian at the Shore Country Day school in Beverly, Massachusetts. As a Librarian, e supports students and teachers with accessing information, developing literary curricula, and curating the library collection. Em is also the author of YA nonfiction Beyond They/Them: 20 Influential Nonbinary and Gender-Diverse People You Should Know and a contributor to the MG anthology Athlete is Agender: True Stories of LGBTQ+ People in Sports. E has an interest for working with unique formats such as hybrid novels and novels in verse. E also is passionate about LGBTQIA+ and disabled voices across genres in children’s to young adult spaces. 

Em has been selected as a recipient for the HTP Books & RRT Conference Travel Grant due to eir commitment to LGBTQIA+ librarianship and joining emerging leadership in the Rainbow Round Table. This will be eir first time attending ALA Annual Conference. You can meet em at any of the RRT Conference events. We are thrilled to welcome Em to the ALA community!

The HTP Books & RRT Conference Travel Grant provides a member of RRT reimbursement funds of up to $2,000 toward their attendance at the upcoming 2026 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Additionally, RRT will provide opportunities for the grant winner to participate in sessions including the Stonewall Book Awards and to meet and connect with LGBTQIA+ authors and their fellow RRT members.

Funding for this year’s grant was provided by a generous donation from HTP Books. HTP Books, part of HarperCollins publishing company, has four trade imprints which span a range of genres and inclusive stories in general and literary fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction. This is the first year of the RRT Librarian Conference Travel Grant which will continue to offer support for the professional development of library workers in the RRT until 2028.

About the Rainbow Round Table

The Rainbow Round Table (RRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) was founded in 1970 as ALA's Task Force on Gay Liberation. It is the nation's first gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender professional organization, serving the information needs of the LGBTQIA+ professional library community and the LGBTQIA+ information and access needs of individuals at large. For more information connect with RRT on Facebook: Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association; Instagram: @rrt_ala; Discord: ALA Rainbow Round Table; or the RRT ALA Connect page.

About the American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) is the only non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated entirely to America's libraries and library professionals. For almost 150 years, ALA has provided resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. The ALA serves academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library's role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit www.ala.org.