I Am the Dream: Voices of a New Generation
Now in its second year, Write Your Story is an exciting year-long program that brought creative writing masterclasses and artistic mentorship to young women of color, ages 12 to 18, a fantastic collaboration of the festival with Cinnamongirl,…
Werewolves and Monster Slayers: Transforming Horror in YA
If you’re dying to read about a rag-tag team of powerful young women with a side of killer fun, you’re in the right place. In Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s graphic novel debut Squad, Becca longs to be popular at her new school, and winds up finding…
Write the Future with 826 Valencia
In this session, you will hear writing from 826 Valencia’s Black Literary Achievement Club (BLAC) about who they are, where they come from, and the issues they care about. BLAC strives to cultivate an intentional space for Black students to…
YA: Rumors and Lies
You may have heard the rumors . . . and they’re all true. YA authors Dhonielle Clayton and E. Lockhart will be spilling the beans about how words can be more deadly than they seem. Set in a lavish preparatory school, Dhonielle Clayton’s…
Black Panthers: Inherit the Revolution
When Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale first met at Oakland’s Merritt College in 1966, history was made. They formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, and ended up rocking the world with a revolutionary vision whose legacy still burns…
YA: Growing Up Queer Then and Now
Discovering and embracing your identity as a queer young person can be joyful, confusing, or downright dangerous, depending on when and where you’re growing up. These three authors offer historical and more contemporary narratives of growing…
What’s New in Native American Literature for Kids
A wider range of Native American issues, stories, and characters than ever before are being represented in books for young people. In this session, hear from debut YA author Jen Ferguson (The Summer of Bitter and Sweet), picture book author…
Native Voices: Essayists from the 2022 Graton Student Writing Program
The Graton Writing Project is a series of writing workshops open to middle- and high-school Native students from Sonoma, California, that culminates in a published youth anthology. This year, students were asked to write on the theme of enacting…
Young (Adult) Love
Love is in the air… literally. In this panel, YA authors will share their recent novels that offer plenty of romance, regardless of the state of your own love life. New York Times–bestselling author Casey McQuiston makes their YA debut with…
Engaging with Evolution
From the emergence of COVID variants to the origins of Homo sapiens, the process of evolution underlies all biology. Yet only about half of American adults agree that humans developed from earlier species. In this session, Dr. Lisa White, Director…