Begun around a Twitter conversation in 2014, the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books “advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.” This panel will help us understand what the publishing industry looks like today—both how far we’ve come, and how far we need to go. Join three representatives from We Need Diverse Books to learn more about what we as writers and book lovers can do to help move the needle on diversity in publishing.
Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to We Need Diverse Books.
Panelists: Minh Lê, Kaitlyn Patterson, and Caroline Tung Richmond
Moderator: Rosa Castellano
When: Tuesday, May 30 | 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern | Online via Zoom
Cost: $5 registration fee will be donated to We Need Diverse Books.
Location: Online, in the comfort of your own home. Via the Zoom Platform
Registration closes at midnight, on May 29. The link to join will be emailed to you the the morning of the program.
PANELISTS:
Minh Lê is the award-winning author of picture books including The Blur, Real to Me, Lift (an Eisner Award nominee), Drawn Together (winner of the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature), and graphic novels such as Green Lantern: Legacy and Enlighten Me. In addition to writing books, he serves on the Board of We Need Diverse Books, is on the faculty of the Hamline MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and has been a contributor to a variety of publications, including The Horn Book, NPR, HuffPost, and The New York Times. Outside of spending time with his wonderful wife and children at their home in San Diego, his favorite place to be is in the middle of a good book.
| Kaitlyn Sage Patterson grew up with her nose in a book outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After a ten year stint in West Tennessee, she’s once more happily living at the feet of the mountains that raised her. Her debut novel, The Diminished, was published by HarlequinTEEN in 2018. Its sequel, The Exalted, followed in 2019. Her next series, The Windy Creek Stables series will be published by Feiwel and Friends beginning in 2025. She is proud to spend her professional time raising money for We Need Diverse Books. |
Caroline Tung Richmond is an experienced nonprofit director with an emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and the power of diverse literature. She began her career at the Smithsonian Institution and segued into the nonprofit world in 2017, starting at the entry level and taking on an executive role in less than four years’ time. As Executive Director of We Need Diverse Books, Caroline oversees over a dozen initiatives united under the same goal – to create a world where everyone can find themselves in the pages of a book. Caroline is a member of various advisory boards, including the Little Free Library and Mayo Clinic Press. She is also an award-winning young adult author of five novels and one anthology.
MODERATOR:
Rosa Castellano is a poet whose work was recently supported with a year-long fellowship from the Visual Arts Center of Virginia and by Tin House. In 2021, she was a finalist for Cave Canem’s Starshine and Clay Fellowship and her work can be found or is forth coming from RHINO Poetry, South Hampton Review, EcoTheo Review and Passages North.
About We Need Diverse Books (WNDB):
We Need Diverse Books™ is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. WNDB recognizes all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.