This event is online
Black girls have something to say and we are proud to be hosting this panel of incredibly talented middle-grade authors to celebrate the launch of Lisa Moore Ramee’s highly anticipated new novel, Something to Say.
Lisa Moore Ramee is one of our favorite authors. We launched and evangelized for her debut novel A Good Kind of Trouble, a Walter Dean Myers Honor Book, and are so excited to launch Something to Say, an unforgettable story about finding your voice—and finding your people.
Eleven-year-old Jenae doesn’t have any friends—and she’s just fine with that. She’s so good at being invisible in school, it’s almost like she has a superpower, like her idol, Astrid Dane. At home, Jenae has plenty of company, like her no-nonsense mama; her older brother, Malcolm, who is home from college after a basketball injury; and her beloved grandpa, Gee. Then a new student shows up at school—a boy named Aubrey—and Jenae can’t figure out why he keeps popping up everywhere she goes. The more she tries to push him away, the more he seems determined to be her friend. Despite herself, Jenae starts getting used to having him around. But when the two are paired up for a class debate about the proposed name change for their school, Jenae knows this new friendship has an expiration date. Aubrey is desperate to win and earn a coveted spot on the debate team. But Jenae would do almost anything to avoid speaking up in front of an audience—including risking the first real friendship she’s ever had.
Lisa will be in conversation with Mariama J. Lockington, Janae Marks, and Alicia Williams
Mariama J Lockington is the author of For Black Girls Like Me, a lyrical coming-of-age story about family, sisterhood, music, race, and identity that draws on some of the emotional truths from her own experiences growing up with an adoptive white family.
Janae Marks is the author of From the Desk of Zoe Washington, a captivating mystery full of heart, as one courageous girl questions assumptions, searches for the truth, and does what she believes is right—even in the face of great opposition.
Alicia Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received a Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and for which she won the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Genesis Begins Again is a deeply sensitive and powerful novel that tells the story of a thirteen-year-old who must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself.
Don’t miss this chance to hear what these four extraordinary authors have to say