KEYNOTES

Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Bengali folktale and string theory-inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books, the first of which -- The Serpent's Secret -- was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Best Middle Grade Novel of the 21st Century, and an E. B. White Read Aloud Honor Book. She is also the author of Debating Darcy, a contemporary young adult reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Sayantani is a pediatrician by training, but now teaches at Columbia University. When she's not writing or reading, Sayantani spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her black Labrador retriever Khushi from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags. She is a team member of We Need Diverse Books, and can be found online at sayantanidasgupta.com and on Twitter at @sayantani16.

Minh Lê is the author of several children's books including Drawn Together, which won the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and Lift which was an Eisner Award Nominee. His other books include Let Me Finish!, The Perfect Seat, and The Blur. Minh has written for the New York Times, the Horn Book, and the Huffington Post. He currently lives in San Diego, California with his wife and kids. Visit him online at minhlebooks.com or on Instagram and Twitter @bottomshelfbks. 

Dan Santat is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator of over a hundred books. His picture book The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend received the Caldecott Medal. He also illustrated The Blur, Lift, and Drawn Together, all written by Minh Lê, which received critical acclaim. Dan is the creator of the Disney animated hit The Replacements. He lives in Southern California with his family. 

SPEAKERS & MODERATORS

Vera Ahiyya was raised in El Paso, Texas with her wonderful mother and amazing grandparents. Vera has taught Kindergarten and first grade for the last 16 years. Her online presence is dedicated to influencing other educators by spreading her vast knowledge and love of inclusive children’s books. She is the author of Rebellious Read Alouds, a professional development book for educators. She is also the author of three picture books, You Have a Voice, KINDergarten, and Look How Much I’ve Grown in KINDergarten. 

Cathy Blackler still owns the first book she purchased with her own money. As an advocate for fostering a reading community in all spaces, she has experienced reading joy as an adult by sharing her love of the written word with her three now adult children, with her students and colleagues alike, where she was named Rowland Unified’s District Teacher of the Year in 2012, and most recently with her three grandchildren, who call her Grams, and whom have had a book shared with them every day of their lives. 

Sara Clarke-De Reza, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Education and the Director of the Museum, Field, and Community Education program at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. She teaches courses in the historical and cultural foundations of American education, as well as in educational research and design. As a member of the Busload of Books Research Project, Sara works on an interdisciplinary team of authors and illustrators, educators, sociologists, community school partners, and undergraduate student researchers to measure the impact that engagements with authors and illustrators can have on children’s motivation to read, write, and draw. 

A co-founder of #DisruptTexts, Tricia Ebarvia advocates for literacy instruction rooted in equity and liberation through critical literacy. Tricia taught high school English for 20 years and is currently the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at an independent school in Philadelphia. She is the co-founder of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy (IREL), a National Writing Project educator, and the author of Get Free: Anti-Bias Literacy Instruction for Stronger Readers, Writers, and Thinkers (Corwin). 

Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American writer, interfaith activist, and cultural sensitivity trainer featured in O, The Oprah Magazine. She is the author of the Yasmin series and also writes middle grade novels, such as Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero, and other books for children. Saadia is editor-in-chief of Blue Minaret, an online magazine of poetry, short stories, and art. Besides writing books, she also loves reading, binge-watching her favorite shows, and taking naps. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her family. 

María E. Fránquiz is currently a member of the WestEd Board of Directors, co-editor of the Bilingual Research Journal, and has co-authored the books Inside the Latin@ Experience: A Latin@ Reader and Scholars in the Field: The Challenges of Migrant Education. Recognition of her work includes the NCRLL Distinguished Senior Scholar award, NCTE Advancement of People of Color Leadership Award, the AERA Div G Faculty Mentor Award. She is most proud of her 20 years as Mentor and 6 years as Director of NCTE’s Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color program.   

Ricki Ginsberg’s research interests include educational equity; teacher education; and the recruitment/retention of Indigenous teachers and teachers of color. Ginsberg is former president of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN); director of the Black, Indigenous, and Teachers of Color (BITOC) Collective and chair of the Native American Advisory Council to the president at Colorado State University; and faculty affiliate for the Race and Intersectional Studies in Educational Equity (RISE) Center. Her published books include Engaging with Multicultural YA Literature in the Secondary Classroom: Critical Approaches for Critical Educators and Challenging Traditional Classroom Spaces with YA Literature: Students in Community as Course Co-Designers. 

Jillian Heise is a National Board Certified Teacher with one Masters degree in Reading/Language Arts + another Masters in Library & Information Science. She has been an elementary Library Media Specialist in southeastern Wisconsin since 2017. Prior to that, she taught 7th & 8th grade ELA in the Milwaukee area for eleven years with an additional year out of the classroom as a literacy consultant. As founder of #ClassroomBookADay (inspired by Donalyn Miller’s #bookaday) in 2014, Jillian is a passionate advocate for the power of shared stories to build classroom and school community and engagement. She dedicates her practice to the right to read and supporting all students by honoring their identities and lived experiences through access to inclusive literature. Jillian served as the Chair of the Wisconsin State Reading Association's Children's Literature Committee for eight years. She also presents at conferences and provides workshops at the local, state, regional, national, and international level to share her literacy expertise and book knowledge to inspire other educators. You can find Jillian online at Heise Reads & Recommends and @heisereads. 

Veera Hiranandani, author of the Newbery Honor–winning The Night Diary, earned her MFA in creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asia Book Award finalist, and How to Find What You're Not Looking For, winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the New York Historical Society Children's History Book Prize. A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA Program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

Alvin Irby is an award-winning early childhood educator, social entrepreneur, TED speaker, comedian, and author. He is Founder and Chief Reading Inspirer at Barbershop Books, a national literacy nonprofit that inspires Black boys and other vulnerable children to read for fun. Irby was recognized as a top 10 CNN Hero of 2023, won the 2023 SXSW Community Service Award, was named a PepsiCo Foundation and Doritos 2023 Black Changemaker. In 2016, he received the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize for his work expanding book access for children. Irby is passionate about helping educators, librarians, and caregivers create learning experiences and environments that inspire children to identify as readers and to read for fun. Irby earned an MS in Childhood Education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education, an MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, and a BA in Sociology from Grinnell College. 

A former Chicago social worker, Peter Kahn has been an English teacher since 1994 and a Spoken Word Educator since 2003 at Oak Park/River Forest High School. His students can be seen in Louder Than a Bomb and America to Me. A founding member of the London poetry collective Malika's Kitchen, he co-founded the London Teenage Poetry Slam and, as a Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths-University of London, created the Spoken Word Education Training Programme. Peter was a featured speaker at the National Council of Teachers of English's annual convention and runner-up in the NCTE and Penguin Random House Maya Angelou Teacher Award for Poetry. Along with Patricia Smith and Ravi Shankar, he edited The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, reviewed in the New York Times by Claudia Rankine. Peter's 2020 poetry collection, Little Kings, has poems featured in the London Guardian and The Forward Book of Poetry.  

Bonnie Kelso studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the Illustrator Coordinator for Nevada SCBWI and winner of the 2021 Karen Cushman Award. Her 2023 debut NUDI GILL: POISON POWERHOUSE OF THE SEA was chosen to represent the State of Nevada at the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. Other titles by Bonnie Kelso include WONDER OF THE WOODS, QUAIL TRAIL, and SEA SMILES—the first in a three book series, of which SLEEPY SEA is the second and SEA SUDS will be the third. She is represented by Liz Nealon @GreatDogLit. Website: www.BonnieKelso.com 

Rashin Kheiriyeh is a multi-award-winning author-illustrator, animator, and painter who has more than ninety children’s books to her credit. Her books have been published in at least twelve countries and she was nominated for the 2023 & 2024 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to children’s literature. She is also the recipient of a Sendak Fellowship Award, a 2009 New Horizon Award (Bologna Ragazzi), and is a six-time winner of the Bologna Book Fair Illustration competition. Rashin Kheiriyeh is the character artist of the most popular animation series on national television in Iran called “Shekarestan” (“Sugarland”). She lives in Washington, DC. 

Joy McCullough writes books and plays from her home in the Seattle area, where she lives with her family. She studied theater at Northwestern University, fell in love with her husband atop a Guatemalan volcano, and now spends her days surrounded by books and kids and chocolate. Her debut novel, Blood Water Paint, was longlisted for National Book Award and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut Award. She is also the author of We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire and the New York Times bestseller Champ and Major. 

Kate Messner is passionately curious and writes books for kids who wonder, too. Her award-winning titles include picture books like Once Upon a Book, Over and Under the Snow, and The Scariest Kitten in the World; middle-grade novels like All the Answers and Breakout; the Fergus and Zeke easy reader series; the Ranger in Time chapter book adventures; and the History Smashers illustrated nonfiction series. A former middle-school Language Arts teacher, she splits her time between New York's Champlain Valley and Florida's Gulf Coast. Visit her online at katemessner.com and find her on social media at @katemessner. 

Tonya B. Perry, interim provost at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, and NCTE vice president, is a tireless advocate for students and educators. She works to develop programs that uplift historically marginalized peoples and has been a member-leader of the NCTE Executive Committee, the NCTE Research Foundation Trustees, the NCTE Inclusivity Task Force, NCTE’s Assembly on Research, the NCTE Editorial Board, and NCTE’s Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color program. She serves on the National Writing Project’s board of directors and was a 2000 National Teacher of the Year finalist. Perry has worked as a middle school teacher, teacher educator, and full professor. She recently coauthored Teaching for Racial Equity: Becoming Interrupters (2022). 

Emily Plagman is the Strategic Research and Evaluation Officer at IMLS in its Office of Research and Evaluation and provides strategic support and project management for advancing research and evaluation projects. Emily holds a Master’s in International Public Policy from the University of Wisconsin Madison and a bachelor's in Political Science from Marquette University. Prior to coming to IMLS she worked on assessment and evaluation projects at the Public Library Association and American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Nawal Qarooni is an instructional leader, writer and adjunct professor who supports a holistic approach to literacy instruction education spaces across the country. Drawing on her work as an inquiry-based leader and as a mother, Nawal’s pedagogy is centered in the rich and authentic learning all families gift their children every day. She is the author of Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Exalting Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care. She was a longtime classroom teacher in both Brooklyn and Chicago, and formerly a newspaper journalist. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Journalism, and Brooklyn College. She serves on the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Advisory Board, which funds powerful literacy programming in the world, and Reese Witherspoon's LitUp committee to select historically marginalized voices for publication. Learn more or connect via @nqarooni on Instagram and Threads, @NQCLiteracy on X, or her website at NQCLiteracy.org  

Dr. Tiffany Rehbein has nearly 20 years of experience in English teaching and literacy. A former member of the Executive Committee for NCTE, Tiffany is currently on the Charlotte Huck Award® for Outstanding Fiction for Children committee. She is also on the editorial board for the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), and she serves as the Southeast Regional President for the Wyoming Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals (WAEMSP).  

Franki Sibberson is a literacy leader with over 30 years of experience as an elementary classroom teacher in Ohio. Franki served as president of the National Council of Teachers of English. She is the co-author of Classroom Design for Student Agency with Lynsey Burkins published by NCTE and In Community with Readers published be Stenhouse.  She currently serves as the Executive Director of SproutFive’s Institute for Professional Learning. Franki provides leadership and consulting to schools and nonprofits.  

Dr. Angie Zapata is a longtime teacher, teacher educator and researcher. Her research publications highlight classroom experiences featuring picturebooks with diverse racial, linguistic, and ethnic representation, and how/what translingual and transmodal literacies are produced in these moments. Dr. Zapata’s research is guided by her experiences growing up bilingual in Texas as a daughter of immigrant parents from Perú, and deep commitments to center anti-oppressive and justice-oriented language and literacies experiences in the classroom that nurture more inclusive schooling experiences for racialized bi/multilingual/multidialectal children and youth. Her book entitled Deepening Student Engagement with Diverse Picturebooks: Powerful Classroom Practices for Elementary Teachers is part of the Principle in Practice Series published by the National Council of Teachers of English.  

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