Teenagers at the Suffolk Public Library and other libraries nationwide will celebrate the 2019 National Teen Library Lock-In on Friday.

Libraries across the United States invite teens to a lock-in on the same night each year to celebrate summer reading, according to the National Teen Lock-In website. The fun includes online visits with well-known authors, contests, arts and crafts and games.

Suffolk Public Library staff will hold their festivities Friday evening at the North Suffolk Library, 2000 Bennetts Creek Park Road. The event will be from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. for teens ages 14 to 18.

The theme for this year’s lock-in is “Show Us Your Story,” and in the spirit of storytelling, Suffolk library staff will offer creative writing exercises for the teens. This will include a raffle for young writers that submit a poem or short story that’s 100 words or less.

Staff will tune in to live author chat sessions streamed through Google Hangouts on Air. At 8 p.m., participants will chat with Bill Konigsberg, an award-winning American author best known for his LGBT novels, including “Out of the Pocket” and “Openly Straight.”

At 9 p.m. they will chat with Amanda Searcy, the young adult fiction writer of the taut, suspenseful thrillers “Watch You Burn” and “The Truth Beneath the Lies.”

Participants will type out their questions to these authors during the live chats, which will be archived for later viewing on YouTube.

They will enjoy refreshments and a slew of other activities at the North Suffolk Library. There will be trivia, icebreakers and team-building games, plus a Merge Cube augmented reality demonstration and retro videogames to play.

Suffolk Public Library will also do a live feed with Keene Public Library in New Hampshire to interact throughout the evening in a safe and fun environment for teens.

“(Parents) can feel safe knowing that where they’re dropping their teens off is going to be an environment that is safe, fun and engaging for them,” said Asa Heyward, teen services senior librarian for Suffolk Public Library.

Signed permission slips are required and are available at all Suffolk Public Library branches. Registration is not required but encouraged, as the event is limited to 40 participants.

Visit suffolkpubliclibrary.com for more information, or go to thedrabble.wordpress.com/submit-your-drabble to enter a poem or short story that’s 100 words or less for the chance to win a prize for the 2019 National Teen Library Lock-In.