Who’s Missing? & Who’s Here Now? Children’s and Young Adult Literature: Four authors shed light on the many stories framed either around a historical context or referencing omission from the literary landscape. Join Randi Pink​ ​​(Angel in Greenwood)​, Saadia Faruqi, Laura Shovan​ (A Place at the Table) ​in a discussion about writing as activism; the importance of representation; why it’s important to tell this story; and what other stories we need to see in the world. LaTrisha Milton, Young Adult Services Coordinator for the Enoch Pratt Free Library will moderate.

Randi Pink is the young adult fiction author of Angel of Greenwood, Girls Like Us, and Into White. She lives in the South and teaches creative writing and visits schools, libraries and colleges throughout the country. She lives with her two children and rescue dogs. 
http://www.randipink.com/
Twitter: @randi_pink
Instagram: @randi_pink

Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist, and interfaith activist. She writes the children’s early reader series “Yasmin” published by Capstone and other books for children, including middle-grade novels “A Place At The Table” (HMH/Clarion 2020) co-written with Laura Shovan, and “A Thousand Questions” (Harper Collins 2020). She lives in Houston, TX with her family. 
http://www.saadiafaruqi.com
Twitter: @saadiafaruqi
Instagram: @saadiafaruqi

Laura Shovan is an educator, editor, and poet-in-the-schools. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize and her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies. Laura edited Life in Me Like Grass on Fire: Love Poems for the Maryland Writers Association and co-edited Voices Fly: An Anthology of Exercises and Poems from the Maryland State Arts Council Artists-in-Residence Program, for which she is a longtime teacher. The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Laura’s novel-in-verse for children, received many honors including the Cybils Award for poetry, NCTE Notable Verse Novel, Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, and the ILA-CBC Children’s Choice Reading List. Laura’s other novels for children include Takedown, selected by Junior Library Guild, PJ Our Way, and the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project List, and A Place at the Table, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book, co-written with Saadia Faruqi.
https://laurashovan.com
Twitter: @laurashovan
Instagram: @laurashovan

LaTrisha Milton is the current Young Adult Services Coordinator for the Enoch Pratt Free Library. She is originally from Baton Rouge, La but has been in Baltimore, Maryland the last 4 years. She leads in several arenas for the library, including the introduction of Young Adult Writers LIVE! in 2020, One Book Baltimore, Books for the Beast and many other programs geared towards the teen audience in Baltimore City. She is also a trainer for the Maryland State Library Associates Training Institute. LaTrisha serves as the moderator.
Twitter: @LaTrisha_E_M
Instagram: @LaTrisha_The_Librarian