Wednesday, October 12th, 2:00pm CDT
A Certificate of Attendance will be issued to those who attend this webinar. A recording will be posted to Mackin.com for those who cannot participate in the live session.
Speakers
Kelly Yang
Author
Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk (winner of the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature); Parachutes; Three Keys; Room to Dream; New from Here; and Finally Seen. Front Desk also won the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, was the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and has earned numerous other honors including being named a best book of the year by Amazon, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and NPR. Learn more at KellyYang.com.
Kat Zhang
Author
Kat Zhang loves traveling to places both real and fictional—the former have better souvenirs, but the latter allow for dragons, so it’s a tough choice. A writer of books for teens and children, she spends her free time scribbling poetry, taking photographs, and climbing atop things she shouldn’t. You can learn more about her at KatZhang.com.
Krista Vitola
Editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Krista Vitola is a senior editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. Before coming to S&S in 2016, Vitola had been an editor at Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, for nine years. A few of the authors she is lucky to work with are Anne Bustard, Donna Gephart, Kelly Yang, Shanna Miles, Shirley Marr, Supriya Kelkar, and Stuart Gibbs. When Krista is not reading, she is running outdoors with her son, eating whatever delicious treats are available, and drinking red wine (most times in that order, sometimes all at once). She is a graduate of Villanova University. Follow her @Kav_Tepedino.
Dainese Santos
Associate Editor, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers & Salaam Reads
An alumna of NYU’s publishing program, Dainese (“day-niece”) joined Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers as an editorial assistant in 2019. Since then, she’s had the pleasure of working with authors like Jenny Han, Mary H.K. Choi, S.K. Ali, and Julie Falatko in both support and editorial roles. Mary Choi’s Yolk was the first book she edited in her career. She is also the editor of the upcoming Spring 2023 YA romance, The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim. She deeply cares about stories that center historically underrepresented folks, particularly when those said stories are warm, joyful, fun, and frothy. Find her on Twitter @chanceofdain.
Kia Heise, Ph.D. – Host
Mackin Learning
Kia Heise holds a doctorate in Sociology and taught in Los Angeles and the Twin Cities for several years before joining Mackin Learning. Her approach is informed by thousands of hours learning how to navigate discussions of social inequality with diverse groups of young people. She is also the author of the Little Sock picture books.
