Debut of collections is now available and his memoir the cookoff will be released in may. Nice. And can we have a hand please . [applause] [inaudible] and awardwinning poet and journalist, critic and poet, his books are the New York Times best seller and book show of the month raising fences. Claims a l novel also americas and collection of essay, the life and death of tupac and hes a professor of english at lola Marymount University in los angeles. [applause] seated next to me is nirk coal raised in bronx, new york. Hand for the bronx. [laughter] a masters degree of psychology and worked as a counselor for teenagers and families in crisis situations. She also has mfa in creative writing for a new school. Her first novel won Los Angeles Times book prize for young adult literature and novel kendra and bronxwood selected by American Library association as best book for young adults. Her first middle grade novel kind of elected as an ala notable book for children, and an npr best book of 2014. Lets have a hand for ms. Bruce. So what were going to do is im going to post a couple of questions in between each question, each author will read from their work. So the first question will be started with one, and then next and then next. Five, seven minutes for each. So first, well start at the other end of the table. [inaudible] who was your intended audience and what do you want them to understand about shaping memories and adulthood . So my opinion on audience is what most of us identify as being nontraditional readers. I write for young people who hate books because you know, i think about how reading has transformed me and how its a tool that brings about freedom and complex starts and things that any and other person needs to navigate society. So everyone a lot of people are readings my bookses and dirchts people take Different Things away from them. I think kids from neighborhoods like where i come from get the opportunity to see themselves in the book which is which was, you know, exist you have to do like mark twain and all of that. So now young people are able to see themselves in books and i think from people from far removed people like about suburbs they get the humanity that exist within the black Community Something that the news and media is really good at skipping. So you know, i think an audience and im proud of that. Am i reading . Okay. Not now after each person. Okay, cool l. Thanks for being here. As a pleasure to be on the panel. Audience for my books are young people looking to find a way to have survival and a context of antiblackness, a young person trying to survive now, youre encountering people looking at you as not fully human. Books are also aimed at parents foxes raising kids who have children in the audience by a show of hands. Okay. If youre raising kids, i know youre concerned ive got two children, two daughters and as a parent always trying to find creative ways to prepare them for the way ahead. Creative strategies to train them how to be confident and successful, how to love themselves so i have two daughters again modern context because of how gender power works women have to work harder to feel good about themselves because so many message it is that women are not as valuable or as beautiful or perfect as they actually are. When youre female and black, the double pressure is added as a result of that. So my own family for example, my daughters, i tell them constantly that they are smart. And fun youre so smart and youre so beautiful. Always probably in a day not exaggerating at least in a day 20 times kind of fun joking way at times or serious ways easer day. Youre so smart, baby youre so smart and books are always reminding people that they are beautiful, smart, and also its okay to at times be broken or to be imperfect and books also aimed aim many wayses as a lighter public as we know at times folks when we know black people well who know lil wayne or know us through snoop dogg they dont know our humanity. In a way we read a book its a e slow process reading novel for example. You spend time with a novel and when people read a whole novel they get to know these characters in a way thats very full and complete and remind them how complex black folks are. And not viewed as complex beings and you can walk down the street with skittles and get shot the hell up. I agree with most of my panelists here. My book is written for teenagers its a young adult novel. And when i started it i wanted my novel to be for reluctant readers an something my brother would have read when he was a teenager and he never read anything i dont think. Never read anything as a kid so i was thinking kids like him and when i started writing it, that was my audience. But as i u now have four books and kind of done a lot of talking and stuff like that gone around country and u now ive kind of opened up my mind a little bit and like mike was saying i want any books to be read not just by those kids but by every kid. Because i do see a lot of in the suburbs of illinois, and a teenager, english teacher literally asked me shes like she said in our School District we have only two ethnic kids so not making this up. [laughter] so she goes so why should or kids read your books it was leak wow. This reminded me like when i was a kid growing up in the bronx in all black School Nobody ever said there are no white kids in this school so why read the great gatsby and like mike was saying open their minds and see not just what they see on the news or what they see like to get a Bigger Picture of what it means to be a black kid in this country. And a interior you know ting that you see on the news you see these stories. But books can bring you inside of the childs head and inside of their lives, and just get a fuller picture. So now i say i write for everybody. You know . Thats what i should have said. Wonderful. Now, lets hear piece of writing from each author. This book is america is my newest book and a skin disease called Michael Jackson disease black and brown lose their skin but skin tone is splotches so you have to imagine youre a kid age ten, darker skin and begin to literally fade away in spots and imagine the stares you get to happen to you as a social subject. And this book, this really charismatic young boy goes from being a young kid to becoming a bitter angry and challenged son. And the book the father is concerned about his kids as our parents are, and tries to prepare them as saying before by offering them strait ji and one thing by age of five he stops giving kids a gift and creates map for them and buries their birthday presents in the backyard so heres your map go find your gift. Should i find within an hour to forfeit them to me and training kids that a man works for everything that he gets in logic for preparing for a complicated world an saying 13 miles from ferguson in 1917 with ul start the fathers name is kip. Kip have been burying his sons birthday present since they were five years old. It allowed him to combine his love of math making and man making. He inherented his own father skill with maps but was determined to shape the patriarch child rearing approach and shake off his effects, a slow process. Kip still had the selfconscience look of a criticals only child beneath seemless skin was a puzzled face with pieces jammed to fit. Kip had learned from experience that tough love without hugs play a ride on a knees and tender kisses wasnt tough love. It was just tough. Thats why such a good father last week when the twins big rusty butts tumble into the library and ask for his bucking bronchoknees he enjoyed more than his boys. Care that long kip birthdays would officially start theiring right passage into manhood and told him that kip was a number of perfection and went into labor 1883, he knew there was going to be Something Special about his child. What kip detective know was that come in twos from the day that baby us face head of the twins from exhausted wife to elated father kip began plotting how to build his little boys into perfect men. [applause] sorry choking here. My book is written 14 but it has some language so if thats something that is bothering you a good time to leave. Im going to read a little bit from my book tyrell and its about a 15yearold whose dad is locked up and he and his mom and little brother are homeless as a result and theyre in the e. A. U. System here in new york bounced around from one motel to the next, and i guess thats all you really need to know about that a 15 boy who is speaking. Sending us to the Bennett Hotel some niga told me rolling and one dude said his room had bullet holes in the walls and bloodstains on the rug. This other guy said roaches was getting paid to run bennett and signed you and took you to your room that bennett hired romps to come to your room to kill roaches. That is hit was funny but nothing funny anymore. A bombed out building like something outside like in the old war movies. Inside it aint no better. Place looked stink like old sneakers probably because they aint got no fresh air in here. Thats first thing i noticed. Another thing is how busted the lobby look with old chair and coaches with holes and stuff hanging out of them. Or floors is dirty look like they aint never been mopped one quarter of the room burger king and shit all over the floor ands plastic flowers on the table. Look thats going to make the look nice and feel right at home here. As holes. Second we get to the room our mom shakes heads. Kentucky can you believe why got us here . I have a sevenyearold child. I dont say nothing. This whole situation got me so mad i have to keep my mouth closed. I need to keep all of this shit inside and watt until it all settle back down again. How do this they asked . Children sleeping here three nights i dont get this but i stop listening im tired of the way she act like everyone supposed to do everything for her all of the time. Even if she dont do nothing and even when my pop is home never did something for herself and expected him to buy her things no matter how he got them. Troy are starts crying and mom do nothing to help him and i find stuff for him to sleep in and go to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Five seconds later he call me because of the roach in the sink. I take off my beat up old jacket and beat him with toilet paper and kill more on the wall. My mom is talking to her friend thats my phone i said trying to snatch it away from her. Using all of my minutes, damn. I sit down on a bed, mad and why take my shit without asking. I hate that. Troy out the bathroom. I dont him staying up and seeing how jacked this room really is. Hes so tired he dont fight e me and laid on other bed an pulled blank the over him which is good because theres a roach on the wall by the bed. I dont kill it because it wont matter. This got more problems than just roaches. Our room aint got no bullet holes but paint is all dirty and peeling and rug is all worn out and shit. Two double rooms with no sheets and mattress is u up. Bennett is worst so far. My mom used up last ten minutes and throw my cell on the bed and turn on me. Whats your with lazy ass doing . Man i cant got time for this. It mean what you doing for this family . Why arent you doing something so your mother and brother dont got to live like this for a second i try to hold it in because i want troy to sleep but before i know it im screaming back what am i supposed to do in you never do nothing. You dont go to school too damn lazy and when you get your black ass to school you fight and get in trouble and ive got to go down there and talk to that god damned vice principal. Talk about lazy what you doing for this family . She dont hear me she keep on going you dont go to school and dont work. Damn near 16 what kind of man you going to be some lazy ass niga what you want, me selling weed thats what yowpght. She dont back down. We wouldnt be at bennett if you would be. Start Walking Around room like shes an animal trying to get out of her cage. Youve got to do something this stuff is serious now. Aint screaming anymore but look scared you spend your time Walking Around streets screwing that little girl. That dont make you a man. A man got to take care of his family. What your man doing for his family i ask her. You want me to take care of you because your man keep his ass out of rikers i open the door and gone. I get in the hall like i want to punch ore kick something. I can feel blood pounding in my brain. I have to do something and go somewhere. I dont got nowhere to go. Go girl [applause] so im going to read a piece of that introduction from my book the b side its the collection that covers range of topics from racism to why poor schools exist to street harassment to what they eat right like food. So if i put all of the these things in a Historic Context and i use my own story as the back drop so im going to read a piece of it. All right first time reading all of this outloud but im ready. One night i participated in a peaceful protest in downtown baltimore. My fellow protesters and i standing with citizens of ferguson, missouri. Over the murder of mike brown. The innocent afn american teen who was on his way to college when had he was cut down by a policemans bullets. It felt good to unit with so many different people for the same cause but thats first group would hand science and share sense of outrage but even as we shouted for justice it wasnt enough for my experiences and rallying for the six and trayvon martin. I do have an immense amount of rpght for marchers and organizers but in the end after that changting and marching Darren Wilson cop who murdered brown went free still. And comings in america still feel comfortable killing innocent black people. Every time a black body dies at the hands of a cop same protesting on one side an same is naive voices echo on other. Well if they were innocent, why did they run . Why did they attack an officer . Why didnt they obey . I get what had these come from in a perfect world. Innocent people shouldnt have to run or protect themselves from people responsible for protecting them. However america is far from perfect. Africanamericans are about as safe as chunk of steak in a din full of starve lions it doesnt matter if you stay or fight back or run. Either way theyll murder you. Ran and when they caught him he was murdered. One in South Carolina murdered too. Oakland face down on the ground with a cuffs on and they murdered him. John was minding his own business, shot, hold with a bb gun and officer opened fire within seconds interacting with him. Mike brown put his hands up and cop threw holes through him and eric in Staten Island pleaded for his life easer he was in custody on video in broad daitle and he still killed him. Edwards death and hanging low enpolice tasers him. One in South Carolina wanted help because he was in a car accident they shot him to death as he reached up or per assistance. One 12 being a kid cant save you because he was gunned down too. In st. Louis killed because he had a knife. One in chicago killed by an officer who adopted alley. Tried run to his home and they got him. Katherine johnson 92yearold woman in atlanta relaxing in her home and police stampede and killed her in a botched drug raid and they happened to be in his stairwell minding his own business with no weapon and killed from that. You can be from africa like im in new york or known as nice guy around Baltimore Anthony anderson it doesnt matter. No black person is safe. Kids, city workers, hugs her prom queens. Theyll murtd you. These kills happen every day in america so much that had the newspapers should print a daily death count with photo of the casual it it because for black a this is wartime. What is disgusting that all of these officer who is commit heinous acts are found innocent and many not charged due to the Law Enforcement officers brights that exist in every state. In maryland where i live Police Officers gets ten days before they have to speak about the killing theyre involved in. Girch them ample time to assemble mountain of lies that give them up. The guardian reported they kill blacks twice the rate of whites and this is the l norm. [applause] extra are question in there based on everything that we just heard you read, have students have young people read your work an how do they respond to that because im from here, from brooklyn born and raised in brownsville and one of the places with the most crime in the city. And we have more gangs, we have basically more shelters, jails and projects. And most of them prisons are for kids. So a lot of our kids are working around with this mentality you know if i have a gun im straight and then realize how theyre being used so i would think when they read your work that it would make them a little more knowledgeable about whats going on in the world so can you tell me like how they respond to that . Biggest is that we raise money for small private donors, foundations and donate it over 1500 copies of my book Public School made it for tenth graders next year. Thank you. [applause] im in schools this d. C. , virginia two times a week so one thing that im extremely proud of is that young people, young black students who again they dont identify traditional readers are getting the b side and finishing it up a like two or three days reason is because one they see themselves in the book and susceptible not in this language that needs to be decoded with someone with 37 degreeses its in a conversational tone and it speaks directly to them and three it puts all of these issues you know some of the issues took 500 years to create like why, why school in a black neighborhood so messed up . Yacht just pose that question but i talk about how why students a 42 head start and gi bill and needs and how that money allocated and basically different policies that created realities so i use any own experience, but i also put in a Historical Context and language that is easy to read and it explains these things and gives you the option to figure out what you can do in which place is so i read part of an introduction and if i would have continued to the end, basically talked about best way for me to make a difference is not too much of a down street for me. Best thing for me to do is to create content that gets people excited about reading and then go to schools and encourage people to tell their own stories and help them to the begs of my ability understand how important their stories are are so doing very well in schools and reacting with to it. And so well that i thought was program the b project im teaching how to pull students how to be journalist and controlling narrative and telling our stories and not letting reporters to our neighbors to create narrative that they want to control. And im proud of that. [applause] yeah. Raising fences my memoir about my coming of age story and that book in particular has hit younger black boys and young girls. I get letters or emailses from students who read the book in high school particularly who basically say they see themselves in the book. And that is really important as readers many kids dont like to read. They rather be on instagram or or online media i puns of course but when they see themselves in the book it makes read aring exciting. If you can dmght your own life in the book by reading your life in the book that makes it a lot more exciting to read. Since my book is written for teenagerrings i get a lot of letters from kids and ones i love the most that it was to say that tyrell was first book they ever read, ever, and American Library foundation they gave 20, 30 books to kids and different like different settings they gave a whole bunch of box setting and they have a book club and book clubs for boys, and a lot of about nontraditional settings places where a lot of kids wont get book and encourage them with a free book and have a Discussion Group and then they actually flew me around country to go to the book group which was really great. And i do have talks at jiewflt detention where i go the most and i really love it. Because my book is fiction. But it does its a lot of kids can relate and see themselves in tyrell who in the scene i just read mother basically telling him to sell drugs to support her. And kids are put in that position and he does feel like it is his responsibility to take care of his family so it gives us a lot of discussion not a true story but i used to work with children in crisis and i kind of, you know, a lot is based on true stories so it gives us a lot to discuss and talk about when i go to the juvenile Detention Centers because a lot of kids were in the same situation that my character was in. So kind of rewarding to be able to talk to kids. Thats wonderful. And i know a few tyrells faces right before me so its a sad situation. But what i want to see now is how you can share if you can share the specific life challenges and like, of course, the wholelessness your work presents and then means of survival into adulthood it proposes how do they get there . How do they survive . Start by the end okay. So for me you know, i think about whats my place right like what i can do. And you know, again my own story from kind of grew up in a rough family. Under my older brother who basically raised me. And he was murdered. And you know, that sent me down a really dark path. I tried to go to college. Im east baltimore is 102 black with like a 2 margin of error. So i never met a white person in my life and i go to a white institute, and you know they were like, you know, this were like it was like i felt like an alien. I felt like i couldnt commute with them and they couldnt communicate with me and black students that i was coming across they, you know, had boat shoes, sweaters talking about delaware degrasse i dont know about what that is im strawght from the projects so as i went through streets and did drugs, i was tyrell all of that and when i made it through that, and i went back to college, thats wha reader and communication is serious in this country. And a lot of these things happen because we cant talk to each other. Easier to hit you in the head with a bottle than to say man you hurt my feelings i was talking to my home boy with a frustrating, rough day, and he just kept saying you, my girlfriend, you know, two jobs, this cop, you know what i mean . Yeah but you cant ebbs express it but i think me becoming reader and writer helped me to be a better communicator so i talk to people that come from places where i come from but the middle oklahoma and its all good. So i think that one of the reasons why a lot of you know these things connect because one of the reasons why a lot of readers arent coming out of our neighborhood is because were not giving them books and not giving them books like the piece of the work that were talking about right now. I think us give them relevant books making them better communicateors and help them to go further. Thats when i try to accomplish in my work but i understand that im just one guy. You know just three people and this is line were fighting against hundreds of years of racism so were not going to see these things fully play out in our lifetime but that doesnt exempt us from doing the work. Thats right. [applause] my books im trying to get people to think about knowing themselves about the power of selfknowledge this book for example this is a novel. But its a reimagining of and yent narrative. Characters are set in greeks know that name, that egyptian deity in st. Louis in 1970s this was really a book of black mythology into a novel. Scholar ive written greek mythology but i have a great book basically on an african mythology so a reimagining of african mythology in st. Louis. So all of my books deal with trying to in some way know the self a great power knowing ourselves and memoir that i publish that book was also about a Journey Towards selflove and selfdiscovery. I find that younger people especially have a hard time loving themselves. And knowing their value. And at times if you cant express that lack of love you act u up. You tuned creative ways to do harm to yourself or harm to others. I know my neighbor coming up you saw many black men particularly in particular who were frustrated but act out with those in the neighborhood and frustrated black men largely inflicting harm on other black people. So i agree that theres many outstanding external forces come intogging into our neighborhood and race cyst pair dime and but also with the reality that many black folks are hurting other black people and my strategy learn how to love ourselves. As you love yourself youre less incomplained to hurt someone else so my books talk about creative ways to find love for yourself and one of the ways is just to acquire knowledge to read books. And to be open about our emotions or feelings. A lot have a hard time saying you hurt my or i love or orb you and thats not to hurt you. Thats kind of my strategy to think about how we can learn about selfknowledge and then translate selfknowledge into selflove. For me i only have four books. Only have four books [laughter] i guess overall what had i try to do with my writing is like they say that writing should be either a me or window. And i want it to be both. I started off wanting books to be mirrored i wanted to look at it and see themselves reflected. I was also one of the kids that grew up in late 70s, 80s, and i never the only like two books of black people growing up. I round sounder you know like i dont know. Maybe one book. And it was so bad that i wasnt a read arer growing up. I was a writing but readser and i didnt see myself in the book and books about about black people werent about me as a kid growing up in bronx and i wanted to read books about kids like me and that didnt exist so i always said i wanted to be the black judy bloom that did not work. But i wanted to write books about this kid growing up in, you know, in cities and just dinner eso i wanted to write that and i want kids to be able to see their own lives reflected but i do want it to be a window and other people to look at my books and see a world they dont know for the complexity that it is. Like you see these kids going out to the street and a lot of times people have a negative opinion of a tyrell character and say hes up to no good but if you read my book i want you to see his life that hes a good kid. He might be a little rough around edges, but hes a lot of a lot of pressure on him and a lot of l entire or your things going on a lot of conflict and a lot of you know he has goals and he has dreams, love, you know, so in other words i want people to see that theres more to these kids than what they think. That these are real people with real you know full and complete lives and love them and feel the same way about him that i do and to be window and mirrors, and mostly i started writing so kids could see themselves and im so grateful wherever i get a letter saying from some kid who says you know im just like tyrell or i can relate to tyrell are because of you know my dad is locked up or or homeless for a while or anything. I love that. Okay wonderful. The last thing im going to ask [applause] please. Selfdiscovery, writing, and reading. I think that they can see themselves in reflection, box as windows, mirrors and getting them into the schools because thats where our kids are. Flghts thats right. Those are really great answers and a way to reach children to agree and 30 years, as a teacher i was last book some kids i was working with were reading painfully crucial. So they hated it. You know so all i kept trying to do was get them to focus on it and see why shes [inaudible] somebody you know to cause all of this trouble and pattern in america. Childrens book about her. Maybe need to see that. Okay so one last thing your inspirations, what keeps you writing . Start inspiration i dont know. I have no way to answer that writing since in second grade so amazed that most people dont have characters talking in their head. I dont know. I just love what im doing and i wouldnt be able to stop if i tried. 150 Mission Driven like i know that the work im doing, service, services the community and that i work for the people. And i answer to the people and people are the once who validate me. So you know, as long as i know things that im doing i represent them in the best way possible, and that they are reading and developing that love for knowledge that i know im doing my job and i work extremely hard at that will. Thats right are. This day of recent kills and black history and people in america you see folks that are kills us dont fully see us as fully human and from the beginning of the writing is trying to find interesting ways to talk about our four rich complex humanity and beauty. Its really important to me. I think if we can show complex characters and novels and short stories or memoir in terms of our own lives, we can help spend soflt time of aggressive dehumanization of black people so im really driven to create dynamic, interesting, black folks on page. As a brief aside to this book which had is has got incredible reviews. Other country and europe with this book. But initially i got many, many rejection from over 100 rejection for this very book, novel that i have right now. And what editors were saying who said no to this book said there were too many black characters in this book. True story and that we already know about about black people like im serious. We already know about black people we want to write a different type of story. If you did know about black folk we could walk down streets without getting shot. I represent black humanity for my work. [applause] so at this time were going to open it up so that we can have some questions from the audience. It can move to either mic. Should i, hi michael my dinner is nonfiction writer amazing poet, and im from california, developed and support black poetry. And in the city has done so for a lodge time and its extraordinary and i want you to know that. So thank you michael. [applause] i have a question. I grew up in a family, my family was middleclass but parents were working class in pittsburgh and they grew up loving books, reading poetry to each other and no inconsistency when they grew up in 50s between being black and being a reader. Like they were both really avid readers and that was part of our upbringing soy guess what im trying to understand how we reconnect to that that sense that that read aring is what had black people do. And how do we especially for young people who dont realize that theyre reading all of the time theyre reading twitter theyre read aring facebook, instagram but somehow theres a disconnect between reading theyre doing and all of the writing theyre doing, and the idea of reading books. So wondering how we make that connection and just one other question is what have you learned from young people youve shared your writing with. What have they enlightened you about as a result of having conversation with them . I think now we have so much more competition for books like this before maybe they were books, tv but now so much internet and like you said twitter, snapchat and books i think you have to books have to fight for kids attention now and i know itses for a lot of black kids they have not a lot of books for black kids orb black kids. We have this whole push now we need diverse books. Shock they have black awforts or books that deal with black characters, its terrible. Its i think better in like 60s and 70s and actually gotten worse. And so i think thats why were not a lot of black decide are not reading because they dont see themselves in the books. And you know, i think books also became or more of like a business is the last maybe 20 years or so. More they need the big hit. The big blockbuster book that is harry potter and the twilight and those books are getting all of the attention not a lot of room for books. You know, maybe a quieter book around a black child so maybe its just is harder just harder for kids to see themselves and they dont like thats not for me. You know, and a lot of times when i get letters for kids theyre surprised theres black person oh, especially when its a sign in school so shocked like wow this is something i can relate to and surprising. Along with seeing themselves in the books its us making books more attractive pragmatic about it. We have to make being smart cool. Thats my experience. You have to have to make reading cool and not in a fake way but cool as in being able to go to a spot, school as we travel around and embody people who love reading. I love to read. I read all of the time because like i love to read books also body i emdy reading book and during high we talk about loving books but i try to make it interesting and talk to students about also a poet so i can read my fiction or nonfiction with a poetic vibe to make the work come across in a way with attracting students ears. So i know for me i grew up in a really wild complex and in the middle of a really wild situation. So i was over exposed to pretty much any err everything you dont want a child to see. Very, very exciting life, and i would back across the street to my school like i said before, and only thing they would have for me is huckleberry fin or gifted hands book that everyone hates from where i come l from. Just found out ben carr song was crazy been there saying he was out of his mind. [laughter] so so what i start with is slavery i tell young people i say look, you think it was illegal for slaves to read. You dont want them to develop their thoughts to conceptionallize freedom and control them and put them where yowpght. So when i go to schools and i see im in a school 100 black and no book that speaks to the children administrators act like cartoon really are vaunt things dont matter. I ask myself, do we not want our Young Children to read and using education to create a permanent underclass so we can sustain capitalism is that the bigger question so thats what i say about my work is Mission Driven because i read stats and i know that its not this is not a great question but its not something that we cannot a quick fix. It takes book like roger fence and tyrell it is to be created over and oh again and pushed into a lot of these different places so we can create that and build that foundation and they can grow to whatever you know it can grow to be. We need more parents reading because if youre reading same thing your children are reading what if theyre reading in school you should be reading too. So to talk about it and everybody should have a library in their home and our kids love whats the japanese book . Anime and into culture and why not show them and teach them about what our culture knows thats what theyre missing and thats what theyre attracted to. Okay next you had a question hand up. [inaudible] appreciate your panel. Excellent. [inaudible] with the news core and i agree with the fact its your passion but i like to know how i can help you as writers create a movement to make a difference. See, main problem is when i was going to school used to make fun of me bauds i could read. Because i was getting as they would say hes trying to be white and getting paid to go to school. Soy tell them if that was white whats black, being stupid . And nobody said anything. Sos its a negative, ignorant mind set and work that youre doing hopefully we break out of that. With technology starts to kick in and if youre doing so publishing and doing your own books or more blacks to read. Reading material when they have black comic books, black superheros thingses started to change had. So any situation ill take your information [inaudible] thank you. Repeat his question here and wasnt on the mic. Wanted to help us achieve our goals for reaching children all right. Okay next question. Hi how are you im tracy smith amaze at adults who write young adult fiction. How do you stay connected to voice of a child . [inaudible] [laughter] i think every somethingyearold woman has a 15yearold boy living inside of them . I dont know. I think that weve all been children, and teenagers and when i was in second grade i wrote about 15yearolds and when i was 15 i wrote about 15yearolds now that im old i write about 15yearolds im stuck there. But yeah i think its an exciting time to write about teenagers to me everything is a first, the first lot of. Its their first heart break. Their first little taste of independence everything is an exciting time write about adults to me is not as exciting because everything has been done already. But i volunteer in n about waacp and we tutor and mentor kids, and im just always surrounded by kids. So that helps. But i just remember i remember when it was like to feel as like a teenager, and kind of emotionally stuck there and thingings. I was say ha. Anybody else want to answer that. Next question yeah, i wanted to step back for a sec to talk about you talked about how you start 500 years ago this was a country built on slavery and it also has, you know, u through all has changed including people have fought heroically to change the society. Do you think about how a whole different world can be created . You know, and by the very same people considered not human coming to understand how this system works . You know, and then you know im from revolution books this is our mission actually it is put out a strategy and vision. That could actually make this happen but not on its own because the systemmist is in crisis look e weve got hitler for president the economy is 800 in with a situation, and the people that took the streets in baltimore, you know, had a whole different way of, you know, they have many im sure many different ideas. But they were not tolerating this completely illegitimate system. So i my question is twofold, what do you think about a future, you know, and contemplating future where we would not be done dog eat dog and do you think about writing we need some novels that imagine like what would it mean if the people ran are society . You know you know, our fist shelves in our bookstore all noels but i have to say there are very few novels that imagine what we can do to make a revolution, get rid of this monostore on our back and have a society where map of the people run things and it is possible. Please check it out. Leader of this movement and this bookstore is open to you. So ill be there. I want on the calendar. Im on the calendar for my memoir i dont know the date but i saw it. Oh. She knows. So i want to say that its happening. S its just not highly publicized and some of these ideas havent gone viral yet but wii building. Were building readers, building thinkers doin things that they dont do and doing things that we dont acknowledge the government. I dont know what a i dont know what trump are is. Thats not on my radar because the people who i service and working with, were doing exactly what youre talking about. Its just not its not highly publicized and not a 15e year hump but they take a long time to create that reality. Longer than any of us will live. But i truly believe it will happen to knowledge an only way it can happen through business. I wish it could be quick. Could be quicker than you think but contradiction of the systemmist. The plant is burning. Thats why futurism that type of writing it shall this is what i do in a few other people here do also. Because we examine the history so part of that is teaching the children what happens you know, and say why theyre behaving the way they are today and why things the way they are and they want to make the change. They will build a future. To a young teenager and she seemed to aware of everything and why system is like this and how theyre trying to keep her down and how why falling victim doing everything that they want her to do. Getting high, culting out of school. Like you know, they have the knowledge its getting in there. But it hasnt we need to now take that at like now change your behavior. U now do something. You know, its frustrating because they are getting er they are aware of like do you know how they know how many prison cell ares to build . Because of the standardized testing and they knew all of this stuff. But then just so dont fall victim. Next question. Hi, yes im just soaking up everything you guys are saying and being totally enlightened. Man, this is very relevant and i can say that ive been a walking example of what you guys are are spags speaking of and leads me to my question because are from prek to grade 11, 12 ive always been able to read. If a teacher called out to me to read i would read well and i would articulate. But at the same time i never had a connection to reading which such books like great gatsby or catcher an the rye, and i wasnt actually in love with literature malcolm l woke me up so that inspired me to become a writer now, and my question for you guys because this all derives from what youve spoken upon today is that ive been writing for about four, five years now, and i want to know how exactly do you guys get people within your circle, family, friends to really support and push you guys out there and to make you work visible. Because if i have a friend hell say thats cool. But im going to support this guys local mixed tape instead of what youre doing so what are are some of your concerns about about that . Trying to get Family Support for your writing . I actually didnt go through my circle. I actually got beat up by passes first. Thats what had i did. I clear like 800 literary writings. I submitted like everything in the whole entire world even with the magazines that you know, editors who edited my Work Department read. You know what im saying. So i took that route and i let everybody else catch up. That was my because i dont really like for me yipght have time to like read this. You know read this. Like that you know because i come from a i read three books my whole life between when i started reading but let me go back. I read kyar use george when i was a kid but when middle school to like back to college three bookses because my brother made me read them. He made me read them, and you know, so a bunch of people around me we have different realities, different places, you from new york . Yeah. So you know, people cant read so embark a lot of people dont so were changing the culture from my own experience i didnt start from the inside. I started with the world and then a lot of people are catching up and you know, so that might be a different way to take it too. Everything changes when they start seeing your name pop up on paper. Oh, wait hold up. Okay. Thats my cousin everybodys cussen now. [laughter] i didnt start with family either. My family are not readers and i exact same thing when i felt like i ready i went and got a masters in writing because i thought i was okay but i needed to get better. And i needed to kind of push myself and take it seriously and as i thought that being in that environment would help me okay this is what i want. And then i just went like you said agents, editors so i never looked to my family and inner circle of friends. Theyre fine. Lovely people. But they were not the people i needed to get any kind of feedback from. They werent in the same world as i was. So i needed that literary world to say if i was good or not and i started getting agents when i was ready but not from friends or family. I dont know if so many my friends read are stuff that i wrote to this day. Theyre not readers. Next question so i have a question for d. Watt kins you mentioned that you went earl and have trouble communicating and then left school what was catalyst for you going back and why did it work the seconds time . Nice. So it took a whole lot for me to get back. I was really, depressed after i went to college i went into a white space so it was difficult for me and felt more at home in the streets soy put all of my time, energy into everything into that. And i made some money and that was best thing that ever happened to me in a way because i realized that type of money and ideas even though i was raised in that, thats a lie. Illusion and not where happiness came from and not what love is and wasnt what i needed to be doing and it took me a lot of losses and setbacks to understand that. And it gave me it gave me a reputation and energy, and ability to one, be resilient enough to get through college and to approach these agents and publish all of that. But also helped me, you know, im very seasessable and understand what people go through. So it took a lot for me to get out of the street. But it was, you know, i close friends. Change of industry. I came up selling crack people stop doing that. [laughter] and biggest thing wases travel. Ty took laiivet money i made and i went to different places. A lot of my friends they were dying without even leaving east baltimore they know what west looks like. I dont to be a person with a short obituary i dont to be a person with that one paragraph and dies and never lefght my neighborhood so i started going to any neighborhood i realized everything was doing was this big. You cant see it on a map and it just changed my value system changed from that exposure, and i can say that being inquisitive you know kind of saved me. Afternoon. I am very grateful to you guys. This experience has been encouraging for me. 40 years of counseling and trying to uplift us, our children especially and i want to ask your route for your writing, did you self publish first . You went to 800 people, 800 rejections, how did you go about getting published . For me . I write, my memoir is 100,000 words, chopped 265. I write articles, i go through these waves and throw it all the way and through that process i submit to a lot of places, didnt even know, something to do. It took a while. A lot of people rejected me at home and internet and one day and editor from salon read something and she said no, who are you . She thought i was somebody else, she thought it was so good she couldnt believe she never heard of me and i wasnt a professional. And got 3 million hits. After that i didnt submit anymore. I was like yes. Lets do it. I got an agent after grad school, after college, i wrote a proposal that got bought by press. The first book defenseless came out and led to more gigs, folks calling me and stonewalled after that. I did a lot of writing for higher. Basically i was writing books for other people, i was writing it. I fell into that. I knew a lot of people in the literary world. As for my own book i wrote it and got a little lucky because i met an editor at scholastic. He expressed interest and we worked together. I knew he liked it already and was happy and when i graduated, he told me he wanted to acquire it for scholastic. I knew what kind of publisher, had to find an agent to help me with the contract and stuff. I got lucky with my first book. I was with scholastic the whole time. Last question. Thank our panelists. And our moderator. And to adulthood, coming up, doctor green will have closing words for hour conference. Thank you for this wonderful wonderful conference and all the key members, lets keep it up for the great work they have done. Dont forget the authors books are in the bookstore. Make sure we get to the bookstore with the author and support the work, doing some really great things. Thank you so much. Next panel starts again at 4 30. Only have one coffee. During booktvs recent visit, we spoke with earl fry about his vision for the country and his book, revitalizing governance, restoring prosperity, and reconstructing foreign affairs. Generally, two thirds say the country is moving in the wrong direction. Almost half of parents think their children will not do as well in adulthood. There is some discouragement out there about the future of the United States. A fair number of households have not done too well financially, not much in the way of raises, not much in the way of increased Fringe Benefits, but healthcare costs are going up, costs of education at the College Level going up. The feeling is there is a lot more money going out but not as much going in, are we being serviced well, political leaders in washington dc, what do we need to change so my own individual circumstances would improve significantly . Coming out of world war ii and particularly through the 70s we did well. It was amazing at the end of world war ii we had 14 Million People in uniform. We were able to get young men and women into colleges and universities, give them enough jobs, a wartime economy to a civilian economy, we did very well. You could come out with a High School Education and get a good job, in the Manufacturing Sector as we move to 1945, where the United States alone accounted for almost half of everything produced in the world. When you combine that with the fact we had the strongest military, monopoly on atomic weapons, the United States may have been the most powerful superpower ever in terms of its global reach. It made sense as time would go on, the devastation, would go away, those people get back on their feet and our share of close to close to mystic product and other things would go down. We are still a very significant economy in the world although when measured in what economists call parity taking out factoring out the differentials in currencies our share of global gdp, gross domestic product, is the lowest it has been in a century. Most americans think that our influence globally has been going down significantly and we have to adjust to changing circumstances. We are still a superpower but not as strong as we once were. With the world changing, becoming more complex, we have to adjust to that and do the best we can both internationally and at home to pursue the security of our people at prosperity. How does this change happen . In part, other nations have grown more rapidly than we have in the past several years. We went into a period of slower economic growth. We look at the economic miracle in china where literally since the end of the 1970s hundreds of millions of chinese have been brought out of poverty and the chinese economy growing more rapidly than our own through much of this period and that has happened in many emerging markets, developing countries as well so our share of things calmed down. World gdp, world foreign direct investment, but probably preaching a balance somewhere and there is no reason this cant be a win win situation in terms of they can do well, we can do well too and we will just expand the economic pie and take into account environmental conditions and not degrade our environment and have a good standard of living and good quality of life and so will more people around the world. That is what we hope for as time goes on but there is no doubt the us influence is not as great as it once was. We have to cooperate more with other nations, not be as unilateral as we have in the past and we are getting used to that and we are not sure what the best way to do it is so the American People looking at the us role in the world say we are not as influential as we once were. We are a plurality of americans think the 21 stoop century might be the asian century rather than the American Century where was clear the 20th century was the American Century. We have to adjust. Americans are upset by this relative lack in our influence, our position in the world but beyond that, what i call the triple combination in the book, expanding globalization, unprecedented technology change, and also the Creative Destruction. What i mean by Creative Destruction comes from a famous austrian american economist, basically we simultaneously create and destroy businesses and jobs. Let me give you an illustration of that. In the year 2014 we had a pretty good year. We did 3 million net new jobs in the United States but what really happened was we created 29. 1 million new jobs, but we lost 26. 1 million. 3 million net new jobs is very good but what if you are among the 26 million, what if you are 55yearold steelworker and all of a sudden you are out of a job . Where will you replicate those Fringe Benefits he received for so many years . With this triple combination of change occurring so rapidly, americans are worried about their own futures, being able to keep up as a nation, will we be qualified for jobs, how about the competition with other countries, how well will we do . We are living in an age like no other age in terms of the rapidity of change and naturally people are thinking i am not sure i liked it. Lifelong learning, lifelong training for our jobs. Unlike any time in history, will we be able to keep pace. With that the average american said marco yes, we have to be concerned about this. We have 20 of young people dropping out of school, graduating from high school. We have to struggle as time goes on. And the average job, doing labor that a lot of people will not have to do. It shows much greater emphasis in the k12 education, and advanced industrial societies and results and science and mathematics and reading comprehension. We need to be more the emphasis of schools, losing 20 , losing 50 within 5 years in major urban areas. I had the opportunity to teach for a year, all the students who want to become teachers have to have a graduate degree in a certain discipline. To prepare to teaching k12. If you want to be a teacher, go to law school or medical school, put that much emphasis on the important of teaching young people. But we have to do that as well. Pay our teachers better compensation, they are raising the new generation of leadership that will face changes like we never faced during our lifetimes, we have to do more in this area because even though we are rich in Natural Resources in the 21st century the most important Natural Resource is the Human Resource and its brainpower so we have to make sure our young people are given the training they need to compete effectively in a world that is undergoing significant change. For more information on