Join us for a conversation about obstacles to publishing more diverse content and strategies for elevating unheard voices and reaching readers and buyers underserved by mainstream publishing lists. How do diverse content and author demographics shape the selection process? Are there topics that are oversaturated or ineffective? Join Ramsey County librarian Tasha Nins; author Duchess Harris, professor of American studies at Macalester College; and Kathleen T. Horning, director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, for a conversation about how publishers can sell books that haven’t been published before, to audiences not on the radar.

Questions for Q&A can be submitted ahead of the event here.

This webinar is free of charge for MBPR members, $5 for students, and $10 for nonmembers. When you register via the Eventbrite link below, you will receive further instructions on how to attend.

Duchess Harris, JD, PhD, is a professor of American studies and political science at Macalester College. She is the author of three academic books, including Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump. She is also the proud curator of 123 books for fourth through twelfth graders in the Duchess Harris Collection for ABDO Books. Her newest addition to the collection, Justice for George Floyd, will be available January 2021. She resides in Vadnais Heights with her husband of 25 years, daughter, two sons, dog, and two cats.

Tasha Nins is a middle grade children’s librarian at the Maplewood branch of the Ramsey County Library. She has previously worked for the Saint Paul Public Library and Hennepin County Library. Tasha is a 2017 graduate of the Saint Catherine University Master of Library and Information Science program and a member of the 2017 cohort of the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders program.

Kathleen T. Horning is the director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. A former children’s librarian, she is the author of several books on literature for children, including From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books (revised edition: HarperCollins, 2010), and has served as president of the ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children and the United States Board on Books for Young People. Kathleen received the Scholastic Library Publishing Award from the American Library Association in 2009 for her outstanding leadership in the field of librarianship and children’s and young adult literature.

Zoom online meeting platform

Wednesday, November 11; 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

The program starts at noon on the videoconference platform Zoom. You will receive an invitation link and password via email on Tuesday, November 10. Downloading the Zoom app for your computer or device is recommended, but instructions for joining via web browser or phone are included in the invitation.

To register online, click here.