2021 Virtual, BookFest @ Bank Street

2021 Virtual, BookFest @ Bank Street Program

9:20 AM – 9:30 AM (EST)

Chat Room

Sign in and say hello.

9:30 AM – 9:35 AM (EST)

Welcome by Cynthia Weill, Director, Center for Children’s Literature, Bank Street College of Education

9:35 AM – 10:35 AM (EST)

Black Women Biographers: Claiming Our Space and Shining Our Light

April Harrison, illustrator of Shirley Chisholm Dared: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress

Oge Mora, illustrator of The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

Lesa Cline-Ransome, author of Before She Was Harriet

Cozbi A. Cabrera, illustrator of Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks

Connie Schofield-Morrison author of Stitch by Stitch: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Sews Her Way to Freedom

Traci Todd, author of Nina: A Story of Nina Simone

Moderator: Carole Boston Weatherford, author of Respect: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul

10:35 AM – 11:35 AM (EST)

Publishing As Passion: New Imprints and Voices

mineditionUS, Maria Russo

Make Me a World, Christopher Myers

Heartdrum, Cynthia Leitich Smith

Unruly, Claudia Zoe Bedrick

Levine Querido, Arthur Levine

Kokila, Namrata Tripathi

Moderator: Vicky Smith, Young Readers’ Editor, Kirkus

11:35 AM – 11:50 AM (EST)

Break

11:50 AM – 12:50 PM (EST)

Matt de la Peña & Christian Robinson: The World Without and the World Within

Matt de la Peña, author of Milo Imagines the World

Christian Robinson, illustrator of Milo Imagines the World

Moderator: Jenny Brown, Senior Editor, Shelf Awareness; member of the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee

12:50 PM – 1:20 PM (EST)

Closing Keynote

Jerry Craft, 2020 Newbery Medalist, New Kid

Note that the breakout sessions and our short program have been trimmed this year to offer a more online-friendly format.

Host or Publisher Bank Street Center for Children's Literature