Institute and we had a segment on popular culture. It was me and two guys from the hollywood film industry. The three of us sat on stage for a half hour and talked shop. It was really fun and i learned a lot. The main thing that came out of it, the take away for me was that we in this Different Industries dont talk to each other enough. The thing that distinguish me and maybe that is something i shouldve set at the beginning of an interview, but but the thing that distinguishes me from most other publishers is that im not just in it as a business person. Of course im in business and i need to pick and choose and publish books that make money. Thats very important. Im at the intersection of ideas and commerce. Im a capitalist and commerce is very important. If you publish a book that people dont buy, while you made the decision incorrectly and thats not good. Beyond that role i really am to some extent part of a larger group of enterprise and getting back to the question of the differences of whether i agree or disagree, its really not my job as an editor. One of the things i like about being an editor is i dont have to have a decision about every question. I have the privilege or luxury to work with people with different opinion and my work involves helping them to make the best argument that they can given the materials they have to work with. It isnt my job to tell them they are wrong. It is my job to help them be more right and be more persuasive. Its a technical skill, the facility that i have so im not in ideological conservative. Im not pushing a particular line. There are there are topics im not interested in pushing because they dont appeal to me or i dont identify with. For example i would never have asked and never have published a book about gay marriage. I dont have any problem with gay marriage. I have a lot of gay friends and grew up in new york. What does that mean . Does that mean im not a real conservative . No it means i dont choose to take a stand on that issue. That is not my issue. I have issues i do i do care about and among my friends but in my role as an editor my job is to help you make your best possible argument. In my opinion the conservative movement to the extent i conserve consider myself part of the movement, which i do its my judgment that if we have certain problems that need to be addressed on the idea side but the big problem i see is the advocation of the field of popular culture. In my capacity of a private citizen and an entrepreneur, im im trying to do something about that. Liberty island may. Com did i get that righ another book is an autobiography about your father. Over to talk about my dad . Have you asked about reviewing speemac no one has asked me to review, were talking about in case people dont know my father has a new biography that came out and also a collection of nonfiction. No i have not been asked to review either of those books. The interesting idea but i have read them. Privately if people asked me what i think or how i feel and i guess i would say let me put it this way, last week there was a reading where a group of writers including my fathers biographer got up and read selection from his work. The event opened and closed with the recording of my father reading part of the interview and i have to say im glad that so somebody writes a biography of your father, you have to be grateful. He did a lot of work that i was never going to do to pick up all kinds of fascinating and obscure facts about my father and family and history and immigration of my family. I learned a lot about my own family from this. If you can Commission Someone to write your family history, im sure you would do it. You wouldnt want to write it yourself but i have to say this, one minute listening to my fathers voice, reading, speaking is is worth a thousand pages of biography. I really value my father very much. Ive known a lot of smart people and worked with brilliant people, ive never known anyone that holds a candle to my father. Hearing his voice brought back brought him back to life in a way that moved me very deeply. You can write all the books and read all the books that you want about this guy but you can never really know him. To be close to him is to learn from him even my pattern of speech is formed by him and it is a great gift that i value. We have been talking thats the nations flagship africanamerican literary event. At the beginning of september we are live from the Nations Capital for the National Book festival celebrating its 15th year. Thats just a few of the events this summer on cspan2. Making people aware that this issue that he is needing to be addressed and we are not going away anytime soon and have a lot of people supporting us. So first of all thank you all for coming and for your support. [applause] so, i have an amazing panel and what im going to do is that everybody introduced themselves a little and then i will get some serious questions i want to talk about in the state of publishing and what we are doing to change things around. So, first i want to start with not only a published author but Vice President of the medications. Talk over the bit about yourself and then share what the next initiatives are for. I have been a part of this Movement Since the beginning, and weve been working on a lot of new initiatives to keep pushing the mission forward. A couple of things we are working on will be presented for the first Time Next Year and thats an award to recognize an outstanding outstanding diverse author that writes an outstanding diverse book. We started to do that partly to honor one of the greatest young adult writers of our generation. And we also, with several generations. Hes been doing it for many decades but we also want to take an opportunity to recognize those that might fall through the cracks. We all know that awards bring recognition and prestige to books and by recognizing the diverse books that might fall through the cracks of other a word selection we hope to raise awareness and make it more attractive for publishers to publish more of those books and follow in those footsteps. And we are also doing some grants. At the walter myers grant will be available for unpublished diverse authors because we know it is difficult enough to break into this industry. But if there is a writer out there that gives a little but of extra encouragement they could be the next great writer that pushes the Movement Even further and i can speak a little bit about the grants just quickly. I was a young writer close to quitting. Wasnt having any sort of success and the Virginia Commission of the arts gave me a grant. We are hoping to do that for the writers going forward. [applause] okay. We have linda and im thrilled to introduce her as the honorary chair of the Internship Program and we have exciting use about that. Its middle grade novels and i want to shout out here to the publisher because i do not have a look this year and is an author do not get give to come if you do not have a good new book ive been asked to be on the panel and support the appearance, so its just another significant way. Im so excited about the Internship Program i can hardly talk. Ive had this conversation mostly with jackie that you know. We often have spoken about how tired we are because it felt like we need more favors children deserve to see themselves and when youve been in this long enough you start to feel like okay, look we know what the problem is. We dont need to talk about the problem anymore. We need answers or even attempts so this is vital for so long wasnt happening. And people were trying. Its not that people were not trying but there was a limit to the amount of effectiveness. So at the beginning i was watching from the sidelines. I was thinking about another run and how long is this going to last and are they going to do anything and i saw a difference. And i think it have to do with this whole grassroots thing. Thats when we jumped in and got involved. There is the creators side. We need to support the diverse creators but then what happens once they get into the holes of publishing . Privileged to work with so many wonderful editors and people in publishing but there is no doubt that if you walk around any new york Publishing House you dont see the same kind of diversity in the cubicles that exist in the country. How could we help support that and change that . Many publishing professionals get their start as an intern. So if we can diversify the interns hopefully some of them will stick around long enough to eventually be in the positions of acquisition and Sales Marketing power. And well bring our own histories and experience and background to whatever work we do. I keep trying to think of different ways because some peoples thumbs gets pushed. Today im going to talk about choice and variety. Whether you are a writer, publisher, bookseller, librarian, you want choice and variety for the readers who are trying to reach. More choice and variety is better. So its not that youre not all doing a wonderful job. But wouldnt you like to have a greater choice and variety . For me today that is what diversity is about. A creator variety to reach a number of readers. Im talking about more sales. Do it because it is a good business. [applause] thats another thing that excites me is that it is a longterm thing. Its not just selling a book that happens to be hot because it is diverse today. Its a whole generation that we have the Internship Program will be. This year starting out small and manageable, five internships in the grants of 2,500 to the diverse in terms that have received an offer from a Publishing House. Many of you that our new yorkers know how difficult it is to live in new york city with a lowpaying job. So, we were hoping that people who might not be able to accept an internship job for financial reasons would be able to pay at least a couple of months rent. [laughter] it would enable them to take the job and therefore allow a more diverse population who might not have family assistance or whatever to help them accept the job. So, we are coming down to the lawyer of wire picking our five interns and to our surprise and delight, we have wonderful candidates. Its going to be a hard choice in the end which speaks very well for the future of the industry and for our publishing partners. We have how many . Eight or ten who have agreed we will participate in the program. Its been. End of a product. Its been a candidate prop up some wonderful applicants. Its been an amazing process to see. They are all my favorite authors. But his book came out and i have to put a plug on it because i loved it so much and clap for it, please. [applause] and also his amazing picture book last stop on market street. [applause] shes also the Advisory Board member. Shes out there talking to kids all the time. First of all i just want to mention people have been doing this long before we were even thinking about publishing. But if a hand left gave a hand. [applause] what we need to do as authors disrespect the people who do not a lot of the work before we even got to this. What was different about this to me is theres an actual organization maybe it is a function of twitter but i felt like there was a cohesive movement that didnt feel so scattered. First we dont know. What is that ultimately going to do but it turned into something bigger and all i know is i knew it was a big deal when i was in los angeles a couple of months ago. There was an actual film crew and they had me do the video and a little behind the scenes information about the video. It took me nine hours to do two minutes of material because im so self conscious on the video. We had a bunch of diverse authors and i think it is sticking because of the cohesiveness. Im fortunate enough i am fortunate enough to do a ton of school visits, and one of my biggest things about the importance of this is at least from my point of view im not saying these are the books that should be instead of what is popular it is also. And i think that is an important thing because i go to the schools and its 100 diverse students. They love to see themselves in books but they also like to read the dalia foreman dock and thats important to remember they are just reading all of our books, they are reading all of the great books that are out there area to the one thing to remember is that sometimes they can never get to the foreman dock. Also for the kids i see as schools when you are a reluctant leader it is kind of important if youre comfortable within a story on page number one. And what is that its going to give you the feeling of comfort comfort maybe comfort may be is a setting that is familiar or a plaintiff you that feels similar to you. So i think that is one of the things i am most focused on his chest in the field with the kids i meet that will make them feel comfortable. [applause] i feel like i dont even need to introduce him but here is tim who is amazing at his book. What i wanted to say is ive heard people say that your book makes a difference. And it is at important times in his life and the need to fax. And books save lives. I think that is a reality. Books save lives. So how has the response been for you . Its been great. Ive been lucky to be on the panel with you. Thank you for having me. When i wrote better late than never in a weird way i didnt think i was writing a diverse book. Id come from a background of dancing on broadway in a the move to new york city 15 years ago to chase the dream and i did that for about ten years and when i set out to write date it was at the advice of my my age and who for many years was an editorial in editorial is that right if only you can write which is something i say to people all the time now write the book only you can write. When i was working on the show billy elliot and i was one of the coaches for the boys in the show and i felt a kinship for them. When i wrote better late than never come a its when i was in seventh and eighth grade i realized i was going to be gay. There was no verb at this point. It was only a noun or adjective and so the response i get from people now and one of the exciting things when you write for young people you write for their parents and booksellers and librarians and so its people that write to say i am a 70yearold man and if i had this book when i was in middle school maybe i wouldnt have been would have been in the closet for 35 years. Or i hear from 12yearold boys did say im the only one in my dance class in utah and it was so cool to read a character like nate and whatever that boy is going to grow up to become i dont know but it is exciting to know that there are voices on the shelves being published. And simon and schuster has really put it out there for me. Its exciting to know that these voices are reachable. So yes that is what the experience has been like. But we will also talk about some of the pushback. Wait for that. Its important. I have to do a little shout out because eileen is sheer and she was in charge of this beautiful thing she worked very closely with the librarians about and the reason i want to talk to you about this if i wanted to a story and if you have seen me i stole it from somebody else. It was from a British Indian author and anytime you want to any time you want to clap, clap because we need that. What is the word im looking for. The energy. Yes, i will take that word. So she tells a story about talking to a bookseller about his series and into the bookseller says to him i dont see the need for stalking your book because we dont have any indians in our community. To which she said i bet you dont have hobbits either. [laughter] its a great story right . So anyway, one of the things about this book talking kid is to address that need. We had a beautiful shelf talker and if you like this, try that. That is the whole basis it gives you a great way to talk about the book without having to use the books. For example, we have if you like and i cant read this because im getting both have vibrant cityscapes and imaginative chartering. Isnt that the greatest title . So this is what we have been working on. These beautiful things in the Library Journal and it is to help the gatekeepers everywhere. Parents, teachers, librarians cant talk about the books. Books of everybody to enjoy and relate to because im going to steal another thing from another person who said people of color have been relating all their lives so you can relate to our books come too. Okay. We are living through the time racism cannot be ignored. Furthermore a National Report on hate violence stated i told you it was serious. That transgender women faced the highest risk of homicide in violence with seeing examples of the National News used more frequently than ever. Lack of empathy starts young. If you remember when they were all upset how important are the childrens books in light of these issues . Before i answer that i want to tell a quick story. I was watching a documentary the other night about a town in georgia that still has very severe racial problems. They interviewed a man that seems to be about 45 and they were talking about integrating their senior prom for the first time. And he was against integration because his grandmother taught him when he was young that he read byrd and bloomberg should never be together because then you get a bird that is all mixed up. So when we talk about giving Young Children more examples of accepting things that are different, we are talking about countering that sort of education that they may be getting from some ignorant person telling them that this person should be around this person. Its okay to have friends that have the front sexual orientation. Its okay. I learned that at a young age. [applause] by the way thank you for making me feel so old. [laughter] i dont want to say that im a pessimist. I dont necessarily think that even if we achieve a wonderful goal where there are never any more diverse panels and just books that are good for all i honestly dont know how much i see childrens books as a piece of the solution. I dont know how i think that families were situations like the one that was just described and it seems to me the whole whole church and and society and of especially families are a huge factor that probably even a whole series of good favors books are not able to overcome. Its a wonderful way of thinking. Even if i dont think a book is is ready to answer to anything it is a part of it has to be changed. I have a called mulberry in which a character he learns a revelation and says i didnt know that i didnt know. Its what we dont know we dont know and to me this is the root of the problem and can i every day of my life get up and go about my work thinking i got ears and eyes and hearts open to discover what it is i dont know because until i can do that i cant look for i cant explore for answers. I am not naive enough to think they can change that but its such an important piece of that and thats what we do. How can we do that in our work whether they are teachers and publishers every day, how can we be a part of listening to hate. [applause] i would say that maybe when i tvyearsold. [laughter] maybe when im 80 there will still be panels about diversity that they will all be old white men on the panel. [laughter] into the best part is i will still be on that panel. Hispanic i learned a very interesting interesting lesson because i was the judge on the National Book award a few years ago. And what i learned was that you have to be a little subversive as an author that is interested in the diversity issue. So there was a book by a vigorous author and i would say that it became my favorite because of its literary merit. But it wouldnt get as much attention as other books unless it was achieved this award status. And i recommend this for anybody that is on the panel judging. We went to lunch. I waited until anybody finished their flights and then i came in strong for this book. And at first i thought the reason i was doing this is because it was about a vietnamese girl who moved from wartime vietnam and moved to alabama, and i thought maybe this would be an important book for a young Foreign Exchange student that ends up in a very wide area. These of important. Its actually more important to me the tickets that are in that class read a book like that and then a few more comfortable and more familiar and know what they dont know about Foreign Exchange student. And i do think that folks kind of the greater political element of this. He said apparently he was a comic book fan when he was growing up and the villains in villains into comic books are the monsters they could see themselves in the mirror. The quickest way to create monsters in our inner cities is to never show those hits a reflection of themselves in literature and i think that is kind of true. So, i think it is more than just books. Many years ago like 15 years ago and still ten years ago he was telling me. Its had a great books about family. So if you are telling a first grader this is a book about family they are kind of learning it from the ground up and slightly off topic they were talking about voters and that if you send somebody to a voters house to move into your side and analyst with the issue of gay marriage which is near and dear to me even though i am gay endsinglequote. No matter how persuasive you are the only time. Not somebody that has a cousin or a friend that if they feel like lets talk about life for a second its really hard to hate somebody that you get to know. So the incredible thing about writing and telling your story that only you can tell is that that child to read that book is getting to know somebody they may be wouldnt have otherwise been introduced to. So i really believe the childrens books in general can change lives. Youve had some cancellations based on subject matter that can we do to prevent this from happening in the future. They maybe have already read the book and got past the part that they are not struggling with the sexuality. Hes 13 for the middle grade book. When the book first came out even my own middle school. I have two answers. I knew you were going to ask that. Some days you are a fighter and some days you just kind of need a hug. So there are some days i feel like a fighter and then when they canceled the visit, they became a notable book of the year and i sent a link. [laughter] then you go and dear to that conversation. And i do believe that within every civil rights movement. Its to keep telling the stories and keep publishing books like this and also booksellers and librarians. Because the authors are out there. They are here wanting to tell stories. Publishers are buying the stories and publishing them beautifully but we ultimately dont get the reactors unless they are versus the parents. There are slightly subversive books under the table. We are not changing lives. [applause] these that i keep trying to end they say no thank you, not for me. Just keep doing it because eventually maybe they will get tired and say okay and they will actually like it and maybe if theyve heard enough they will say you know, this is worth checking out because if more and more people keep pushing and sending the message out that how the movement keeps growing and how the messages are spread. But going back to the issue i was going to ask the office for intellectual freedom states that attempts to remove the issues concerning the communities of color are disproportionately challenged. And what can they do to educate those. It goes way beyond books and i was just in minneapolis and i was about to do a teen literary festival. But the day before they brought me in early. The womens prison, the juvenile prison and some different versions. The Prison Community command this come and this is no exaggeration, 99 . And i do i would go to the teen festival next day and it would be 99 white. Now i will speak more specifically to an issue that i had. Its literally literally got cause up in a political argument i was bigger than literature. It is basically the people in power in arizona saw the writing on the wall. The population was growing and they were actually standing up and wanting to fight. They wanted to grasp the power. So they said one of the ways we can retain it they didnt say it verbally. One way is to push the program about taking away. There is one amazing picture for the superintendent thought of these books are not banned they just been pulled from the curriculum. But if you think about it. But its a very very powerful. I think one of the reasons that my book got caught up in this is because it is called mexican white boy and we learn that they are not based on anything sometimes more than hearsay or titles as though and so i think that they thought my book was antiwhite because it was called mexican white boy and so i am in a middle ground where i am the next person and i write about next kids who sometimes feel not mexican enough and here i was being pulled down as very comforted because they will call me and say youre going to be my mexican author. [laughter] its very complicated. We will pay you this much. And im like you know what, im your mexican author. I am your mexican author. [applause] [laughter] so i just think that one of my new missions, and i think a lot of us are kind of fitting into this now that is a diverse characters that are about the story is not about diversity and i think that is a powerful movement forward. They need to be about race or whats going on. And i think the majority of books moving forward can be about the characters. What changes do you think the Industry Needs to adjust to help us all in the ongoing issue packs the this pinnacle weve all been talking about different ways. One in your dalia work what it is that i dont know but i dont know. And i think it is just putting your self in that mindset can it really help. But bringing us to the work is why i think it is important to diversify every layer that we can. They are starting to get noticed and starting to get published. So, publishers are the next step then the books go out and our library and booksellers are the next steps to. So i think longterm diversifying all of those layers along the way. On several occasions editors and publishers say to me i want to hire diverse people. I never get the candidates in. Okay is this truly a priority for you. They dont know how to come to you in some cases. But you go out and find them serviceable part of the Internship Program is we ask them to post. That is a nobrainer right . Go and find them. That sort of thinking can happen at every single level of the work that we do. Just thinking that way thinking i need more variety and choice in my workplace and in the materials and the books just thinking like that i need more choices of great books no matter who the clientele is that im going to hand this book to. That kind of thinking is the wonderful thing about the diverse books that this Critical Mass the numbers. I didnt mean books cant change lives i just think they cant change life alone without a whole lot of hope and a lot of people. So this hoping to get advantage of the technology. Can we use the cover for members because that is where it is going to happen. Not so much. To the earlier point, women couldnt open a an economy. Then we have the book that is featuring a diverse character there will be no looking back and thats why the quality of writing is also some important. There are so many out there that are starting. The minute we have a breakout book that features diversity as the top ten of the year that toomey to me is also going to be the critical moment. For a long time we cant sell them if we dont tell them. So its happened in other fields. Dora the explorer, shes brown doc mcstuffins. Everybody buys them. We are both people cannot we are smarter than television people. Why cant we do this to back tax [laughter] [applause] if you think about it on the economic level we are moving to 50 or more. I read one statistic saying those people have 3 trillion of buying power. If you are anybody involved in the business wouldnt you be like give me some of that. How do i get some of that . At how many to be thinking. If you are not going to do it for the right reason do it because there is 3 trillion out of their. I just wanted to clarify that is who made the comment about the film industry. [laughter] is putting a different level. We should mention to books having a contest opening called the new voices award so any of you diverse writers you may want to look at it is to books, new vision of war. A partner in helping us do some of these things i forgot to mention that. [laughter] what are the changes youve seen happening and what changes still need to over . A every major publisher has come to us and expressed that they are on board with what we are trying to do and i think that we have have sort of been covered a lot of editors to be about to go into the acquisition meetings and say there is an audience for this now because we have seen it through the Diverse Program and we have seen some awesome books come out. Its really crushing it right now. Theres the different i dont know if you all agree. Can i jump in on one thing thats important . And there is a little off script but is there anybody here in the media . The if we fight against the media sometimes you have to do the work for the media member, so i think. We do it before summer starts just get it out there and get in front of it because ultimately nobody knows about these books without the media. I will say one thing. It literally made the bestseller list because of one thing. I dont think it would have ever made that list and that is such an important part of the process. Maybe this is bad to say that but i really went after the middleclass guild and that seems to work. Shout out to the later he ends. [applause] they are a year old now and there is no doubt that it created Tremendous Energy and its wonderful to have the attention paid. That means that those books were acquired three or four years ago so a lot of these publishers are already wanting to do the right thing. I think it was hard to ignore the buzz going into that room to choose. But somebody published them and acquired them years before they got started. If people are not buying them what happens to the book. Your job is to push these books as hard as you can and do matter how much pushback you get dont stop. I want to have time for questions and im going to do one round. What is the one single most important take away that you want the audience members during number today. And i want to start with ten. The most important take away is to be careful of the alumni diversity is bigger than your diversity thing. We are all in this together and one of the points of the lgbt and sometimes y because the out a new letter. [laughter] the more attention in the movement gets into the more people that want to be part of it is exciting. I think we want to keep a really big open thanksgiving like table like table so that diversity can mean a lot of things. And lets just be careful not to say i feel this way so you can feel that way or, you know theres room at the table for everybody. We have an inclusive movement. The issue is the most important one. [laughter] we are taking over i dont believe you are aware. The biggest thing for me is to keep in mind you voices. Jackie is here to stay. Shes been here for a long time but shes here to stay. Who are the new voices . Ive been trying to do this lately because sometimes i think it is easier to be like well ive got my favorite black author. And i started by every book by then. What about the new voices . Theres a kid named Jason Reynolds who i just started reading his work and he is a badass. They have to be in forever. [laughter] the variety and choice idea i appreciate what tim said but i want to spin off of that answer is no doubt doubt but that that it is problematic and difficult. But right now when i work on diversity im privileging certain books. To be a part of the community that doesnt get shot because the color of our skin. And i believe in our america right now today that it needs to be privileged. That is where the hardest workouts to start. Eventually, we will cover everybody. But i feel strongly about that right now. And its i feel sad to have to feel that way but i do. I think its important. I would say remain vocal and persistent. If you discover a new voice make it your job. When we find these new writers if you can find them in your bookstore order a few more other copies to sell the book to. Its not going to do any good discover the new voice and keep it to yourself. So that would be my take away. But people know if you find something you like, spread the word. [applause] i think we have some time for questions. We have any do we have any questions from the audience iam in a community that is mostly low income, mostly africanamerican, and we have a shoulder. We have them on the shelf available. My problem is a lot of these books are run in either through the diversity in the society or the website. [inaudible] the cover art gets picked up at the checkout. To actually talk to every single reader like you should read this. So short of heres the big display how can i Better Connect my readers to the story . Bob recommends this book because of whatever. If there is anything extra. A stack sometimes diverse books cover the back of the head. Its one of the biggest publications ive experienced recently is an honor and a sticker is not on the book and that is maybe a choice that was made into very complicated