All-Attendee Event & General Session Speakers

YUYI MORALES IBRAM X. KENDI NIC STONE

FRIDAY, NOV. 18, 6:45-8:30 P.M.

All-Attendee Event

Join us for an uplifting evening led by author and artist, YUYI MORALES. In her most recent children’s picture book, Bright Star in English and Lucero in Spanish, one beautiful line reads: “No matter where you are, you are a bright star inside our hearts.” / “Dondequiera que estés, eres un lucero en nuestros corazones”. Let us gather under the theme’s lighthouse imagery to share in the joy and love of sharing our light with each other—teacher to teacher, NCTE member to NCTE member. This is an excellent opportunity to meet new colleagues and to enjoy an evening with those treasured people already within your professional community.

Born in Xalapa, Mexico, where she currently resides, New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Yuyi Morales lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay area, where she still maintains close relations with booksellers and librarians. Professional storyteller, dancer, choreographer, puppeteer, and artist, she has won the prestigious Pura Belpré Award for Illustration six times: for Dreamers (2019), Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (2003), Los Gatos Black on Halloween (2006), Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book (2008), Niño Wrestles the World (2013), and Viva Frida (2014), also a Caldecott Honor Book. Her book Bright Star garnered a 2022 Pura Belpré Honor.

FRIDAY, NOV. 18, 8:00-9:15 A.M.

Friday General Session

IBRAM X. KENDI is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News correspondent. He is the author of many books, including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and five #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist; Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, coauthored with Jason Reynolds; and Antiracist Baby, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky. His latest books are How to Raise an Antiracist and Goodnight Racism, illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the “Genius Grant.”

NIC STONE is an Atlanta native and a Spelman College graduate. Her debut novel for young adults, Dear Martin, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Clean Getaway, the 2020 NPR Best Book of the Year selection Dear Justyce (a sequel to Dear Martin), the Rainbow Book List Top Ten selection Odd One Out, Jackpot, and Shuri: A Black Panther Novel. She is one of the authors in the New York Times bestselling book Blackout, recently optioned for as a new anthology program for Netflix by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground. Find her online at nicstone.info, @nicstone (Instagram), and @ getnicced (Twitter).

SEEMA YASMIN ANDREA WANG JASON CHIN

SATURDAY, NOV. 19, 9:30-10:45 A.M. Saturday General Session

SEEMA YASMIN is an Emmy Award–winning journalist who was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news, a medical doctor, professor, and poet. She attended medical school at the University of Cambridge and worked as a disease detective in the Epidemic Intelligence Service. Seema trained in journalism at the University of Toronto and currently researches information inequity and the spread of false information as director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative. Seema also teaches crisis communications at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. She is a regular contributor to CNN, Scientific American, and other outlets.

For a preservice teacher, NCTE’s Annual Convention is such a brilliant opportunity. Not only is it a hub of passion and excitement concentrated on education and content, it’s also an incredible opportunity to network and gain insight into the realities of the profession.

— Kit Robinson

SUNDAY, NOV. 20, 12:00-1:30 P.M.

Sunday General Session

ANDREA WANG is the award-winning author of Watercress, illustrated by Jason Chin, which Kirkus called “understated, deep, and heart rending” in a starred review. She is also the author of The Nian Monster and Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando as well as the forthcoming middle-grade novel, The Many Meanings of Meilan. Andrea holds an MS in Environmental Science and an MFA in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family.

JASON CHIN is a celebrated author and illustrator of children’s books. He received the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Andrea Wang’s Watercress, a Newbery Honor book and APALA award winner. His book Grand Canyon was awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Sibert Honor, and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award. His other acclaimed nonfiction titles—Coral Reefs, Redwoods, Gravity, and Island: A Story of the Galapagos—have received numerous starred reviews and other accolades. He is also the illustrator of Stephanie Parsley Ledyard’s debut title, Pie Is for Sharing, and Miranda Paul’s Water Is Water and Nine Months: Before a Baby Is Born, the latter a Boston Globe—Horn Book Honor Book. He lives in Vermont with his wife and children.