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MLA 2025 Annual Conference Featured Speakers

Opening Keynote

Overcoming Fear to Channel Your True Voice and Change the World with Wade Rouse

#1 Internationally Bestselling Author Wade Rouse (aka Viola Shipman) will discuss how books, libraries & his grandma saved his life, inspire his work and taught him to cherish his "Wadeness" & channel his true voice.

Wade Rouse is the USA TODAY, Publishers Weekly and #1 internationally bestselling author of 20 books, including five memoirs, twelve novels and three holiday novellas. The year 2025 will be a big year with three books being published, including his latest Viola Shipman novel, The Page Turner. His books have been translated into nearly 30 languages and have been bestsellers across the world. He chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the working poor Ozarks woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his fiction.

A noted humorist of five memoirs, Wade was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards in Humor (he lost to Tina Fey) and was named by Writer’s Digest as “The #2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” (Wade was sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson). Wade earned his B.A. from Drury University and his master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. He divides his time between Saugatuck, Michigan, and Palm Springs, California, and is also an acclaimed writing teacher who has mentored numerous students to become published authors.

Thursday Keynote

Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America with Barbara McQuade

Barbara McQuade is a law professor at the University of Michigan, where she teaches criminal law, criminal procedure and national security law. She is also a contributor as a legal analyst for MSNBC. From 2010 to 2017, McQuade served as the U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She was appointed by President Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position. McQuade also served as vice chair of the U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and co-chaired the Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee. She is the author of "Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America.”

Closing Keynote

Ships and Shipwrecks: Navigating Our Libraries Through the Age of Al with Nick Tanzi

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence has resulted in a kaleidoscope of emotions, including fear, excitement and confusion. It has also brought out some voices questioning the relevance of libraries. Our speaker will discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping our information landscape, and make clear that while the future may seem uncertain, there is no doubt that libraries are essential in the age of Al.

Nick Tanzi is a nationally recognized library technology consultant, and author of the books Making the Most of Digital Collections Through Training and Outreach (2016) and Best Technologies for Public Libraries: Policies, Programs, and Services (2020). Tanzi is a past column editor for Public Library Magazine’s “The Wired Library”. His work has also been featured in publications including Computers in Libraries, Library Journal, and Marketing Library Services, and he was recently named a 2025 Library Mover and Shaker by Library Journal.