ALA Closing General Session - In Conversation: Luvvie Ajayi Jones and Dr. Nicole A. Cooke

Luvvie Ajayi Jones is an award-winning author, speaker, and podcast host who thrives at the intersection of humor, media, and justice. She will be joined in conversation with Dr. Nicole A. Cooke, Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Associate Professor at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. Together they will discuss Ajayi Jones' “RISING TROUBLEMAKER: A Fear-Fighter Manual for Teens,” released May 17, 2022, which hit the New York Times Bestsellers list at #3 and is an adaptation of her second book "PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKER: The Fear-Fighter Manual."

Luvvie Ajayi Jones

Luvvie Ajayi Jones uses her honesty and humor to inspire teens to be their bravest, boldest, truest selves, in order to create a world they would be proud to live in. She states, “the world can feel like a dumpster fire, with endless things to be afraid of. It can make you feel powerless to ask for what you need, use your voice, and show up truly as your whole self. And add the fact that often, people might make you feel like your way of showing up is TOO MUCH.”

Bestseller of books, sorceress of side-eyes, and critic of culture, Ajayi Jones gives you the permission you might need to be the troublemaker you are—or wish to be. This is the book she needed when she was the kid who got in trouble for her mouth when she spoke up about what she felt was not fair. This is the book she needed when kids made fun of her Nigerian accent. This is the book that she needed when it was time to call herself a writer, but she was too scared. As a rising troublemaker, you need to know that the beautiful, audacious life you want is on the other side of doing the things that will scare you. This book will help you face and fight your fear and start living that life ASAP.

Ajayi Jones is also the author of “I'M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual”. She is an internationally recognized speaker and she runs her own social community app, LuvvNation, a safe place in a dumpster fire world. Find out more at Luvvie.org and follow her on Instagram @Luvvie and Twitter @Luvvie.
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Nicole A. Cooke

Dr. Nicole A. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and an Associate Professor at the School of Library and Information Science, at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Cooke’s research and teaching interests include human information behavior, fake news consumption and resistance, critical cultural information studies, and diversity and social justice in librarianship.

Dr. Cooke was named a Mover & Shaker by Library Journal in 2007, she was awarded the 2016 ALA Equality Award, and she was presented with the 2017 ALA Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award, presented by the ALA's Office for Diversity and Literacy Outreach Services. She has also been honored as the Illinois Library Association’s 2019 Intellectual Freedom Award winner in recognition of her work in combating online hate and bullying in LIS, and she was selected as the Association for Library and Information Science Education's 2019 Excellence in Teaching award winner. In 2021, she was presented with the Martin Luther King, Jr., Social Justice Award by the University of South Carolina.

Cooke has published numerous articles and book chapters. Her books include “Information Services to Diverse Populations” (Libraries Unlimited, 2016), “Fake News and Alternative Facts: Information Literacy in a Post-truth Era" (ALA Editions, 2018), and “Foundations of Social Justice (ALA Editions, expected in 2023).