He demanded that the group got off of the horses immediately. And so here was this group in the middle of egypt they have no idea where they were were in there is some friction sometimes with americans in egypt now but she felt like she was in a vulnerable state. After a couple of miles find their way to familiar ground. They were open to real problems. I guess thats its a long answer to say you want to makes something can crash actually in place and certainly not while you are abroad. You want to get it all taken care of before you go overseas. We want to thank everyone for coming. Very thorough information. Its my pleasure to be able to do this. Please grab a slice of pizza before you leap. Thank you very much. [applause]. In your watching book tv on cspan two. Here is a look at what is on our prime time schedule for tonight. It will kick off at about 6 45 6 45 eastern time for the lessons that they learned. And 9 00 p. M. Nadia lopez discusses her work at a school in brooklyn. In 10 00 p. M. The former attorney general Alberto Gonzalez sits down for book tv afterwards program he discusses his new book true faith and allegiance its about his time in the george w. Bush administration. We wrap up book tv at 11 00 p. M. With political cartoonist. He discusses his use of donald trump as a character. That all happens tonight on cspan to book tv. Good morning everyone. How are you today . I just want to thank you for coming out the new york Library Caucus is here with you today and we have a very great here for you and our panel consists of Stacy Whiteman publisher of two books, we also had an author in the new book coming out. We will let you know all about it. Our discussion today in your presentation and handout today in 2013 im referencing i actually have another date thats even better every 200 chiller books published this is only according to the Childrens Council and of those 3200 bucks 93 were about africanamerican children in addition to that there was an article written by Walter Dean Myers that said we are the people of color in Childrens Books. Our panels panels gonna discuss where are the people of color and in Childrens Books and how far had we come and where are we going. We will begin our panel. Everyone is all set. I just introduced your names i want you all to go around and actually give a brief introduction of yourself and what you do and how we come together to be on this panel. I will start with stacy. I am the publisher of two books. You might know us for our picture books like black all around. We had been publishing diverse picture books for the last 25 years. I focus on middle grade for ages eight to 12 and 12 and up. Middle grade for ages eight to 12 and 12 and up. Hello. I will hold it. I was actually brought here. It is interesting that first book that i illustrated it was a book called i am enthralled about the book of poetry about fathers also come from a legacy of artist and Children Book people my father wrote this book. And my mother who is also an artist met my father in art and design high school. What else would happen but have an artistic child. Hello everyone. [indiscernible] located in nassau county. I am long island born and bred. I know about long beach i had been a publisher for 12 years now. For eight through 12th graders to try to get them to utilize our library. I wear many hats in the world of publishing i have a firm called the literary media consultants. We average the lot of major africanamerican culture authors. As well as i am the founder of the africanamerican Childrens Book project. The largest and oldest single day event for africanamerican children in this country im also a contributor to the deb smith show. We provide africanamerican children as i host the segment on book travel and entertainment on the i heart Radio Station which is broadcast in philadelphia. We have a distinguished panel here today. Im in a start was some questions. My first question in their questions just for the panel. The first question is africanamerican children see themselves in books that promote selfesteem and develop their interest in reading what would you say about that. I think that being able to see your reflection theres a wonderful article from the 80s i want to say i highly recommend meeting if you have it gotten a chance to be able to see yourself in a book and the concept is really important when youre talking about the numbers of Childrens Books out there that are beers versus window. There just arent enough. We just need more. I think that is important for being of the feel like you can be a hero in your own story. Is important to be able to see themselves there. Maybe have an inspiring author. Of who is africanamerican. To let them know that this is a possibility its about being inclusive and you want to try to include everybody and exploring the possibilities. Validation is really important. Children are going through all Different Things in their lives. To be secure about who they are. Validation is important. Children have ulcers of experiences if they dont see their experience than they think their experience is not valid. There must be something wrong with them if everybody elses experience is written about but nobody is writing about their experience. I think its important for the myriad of experiences of black people to be explored in books and all types because our children need that validation. In their lives have been respected. I grew up in a generation were Childrens Books it was probably dick and jane and that was the image that was presented to you and to see yourself in a book i remember the first time i ever saw myself it was an aha moment. I can still remember the first time i read a story about Harriet Tubman i read this book and the more i run the more it made me feel proud of my heritage. I think all of the panelists are saying the same thing. They need to see images of themselves in these books because it enriches their lives empowers them and enlightens them not just africanamerican but all children if are going to be an Inclusive Society we need to see some diversity. Speaking about diversity in addition to that the article that im referencing theres a quote that i found that i wanted to ask the panel about. Theres for our common humanity. What message you think is being sent out when they are not represented in those books. We focus on what is and what should be and we dont focus in on what is. Im trying to keep telling people over and over again that the message that is out there is that books exist about our children their wonderful books. If you wanted to talk to your child about why its important to read give them that book. It was against the law punishable by death if you could read he became creative by reading his poetry. And you teach a child that being able to read is something that is a gift that you need to utilize. You have to teach a child how to be resourceful. We need to focus and not just on why you need diversity but lets talk about more about what exist out there in the marketplace is the classic in daddys arms i am strong. There are 70 books written about africanamerican men and what they werent doing. He wrote this wonderful book about how in the africanamerican a fathers arms he is strong. Resonated across the board about how you share a love of reading to a child but also empower them. Would you like to comment about that statement. Number one i want to say thank you i do think its important to focus on the positive and met his neglect that is negative things out there what we do is focus on we are not envisioning the future. What can we truly see. I watch a lot of netflix at a certain point i have to stop and the reason i have to stop is because i noticed a pattern number one i notice that there are a lot of really interesting movies with white characters that are very compelling and then when i have the titles black interest the quality really goes down. And the thing is i know 70 creative people have really interesting ideas that are doing things that are really astounding and all we can really find is a Television Programs that dont really mean much. It makes me angry what else can i do for the world. And so when we put the focus on getting information out the focus on showing people books that are highquality books that are really a visionary that it would be a brave new world for children. Tell me how to get the books out to children and what do you do when they come into your branch. As a librarian i dont be and i believe in sitting at the reference desk and wayne people come to me. I work with my department for example about that. And its not something you see all the time. The focus of activism. In the african experience. [indiscernible] even if its not written by a black author if its done well it was done so well that our community embrace it. This is a book about that. They had experience in that. To let them know about these titles we care about what they read thank you for talking about that. In bookstores, libraries let us know. One of the first about what she was saying. We saw what we were doing. Back in 2010. We started out just doing Science Fiction and fantasy. Its not very welcoming. I saw that i have a lot of friends of color who went into Science Fiction and fantasy. We want to be able to give kids of color a sign that says you are welcome here. Youre welcome in the future. I told him what i was doing he said yet yeah we need more indians in space. Anywhere in the world is so important for all kids. And so what we do as we get the books to where the kids are we get them into libraries. Were not as strong in bookstores because of the kinds of things that elizabeth was talking about earlier. Sometimes they are not as strong. It has been happening the last few years. It has really open some eyes and we are were hoping to see some change soon. So you heard how to get books and in what type of marketing is done. And then had talk about a festival what would you look for to bring to the festival. I wanted to address her question. Elizabeth statement i was there at the beginning of the africanamerican literary renaissance. One of the issues now is more independent even though there is less a lot of people are coming back into the business. Consumers have to ask for these books. You have to demand it. Give to go into your local bookstore in your community and say i want to have these books. And i guarantee you that i will go and do this. The negativity on the shield on the publishers or the authors consumers have a responsibility. Whenever i say this people get upset. If you buy it they will produce it. And until they begin to understand it its neck want to change the whole issue of not having books in bookstores in your community. There is a distributor who was here earlier this morning his name was not see. Most of the time publishers wont go to him and havent done their research. We are out there and thats one of the reasons why he has been so successful. We have more books than any other africanamerican retailer in the entire country into a half hours. Stacy is a publisher and i have a question for her that well piggyback what i just said. What criteria do you have it when it comes to publishing books about children of color how do you find authors manuscripts in the selection of characters and storylines. Our model is about everyone for everyone. What were talking about. They believe that everybody should read this awesome book. What i look for when i am reading manuscripts is i look for the stories but theres also can be a component because there are some things i dont know. It has been a big learning curve over the past six years to know what im looking for. And we use cultural experts actually. So say i get a hawaiian manuscript bring in a run that by someone who is actually hawaiian to make sure that that person did the research and is not only telling a good story but doing it in a way that is culturally culturally im always just looking for a good a story and im also thinking about where our gaps are. We have literally literary experts. Why dont you had books about this. The books on the subject. First of all im thoroughly interested in him. I try my best to make a final copy and of course its can be edited its always edited it is the nature of the beast. I also might have a sample illustration and i will send it off to whoever it is that i will send the book too. In the editor that im sending this manuscript into is not a random person you have to do your research, you have to make sure whoever youre spending it to for the types of books that you are creating. The reason why you want to do that is because no one is gonna re invent the real for you. They already have a line of distribution they already have a seal team that has been prepped in a certain way. You want to create something are you want to go with a publisher who fits right into what youre doing so that you can fit right into their industry. And have a great time. For fighting and arguing with the book company because they are not getting what you are doing. With that said. If you just want to followup what youre saying. On the publisher side were actively looking for writers of color because of the margin that you are talking about. I thing think its possible for people to write crosscultural but i think its really important the numbers you are sharing earlier of actual books by people of color about people of color are even lower than the numbers of books about people of color. Its really important to get people of color who are ready writing about their own experience in the world more and more. The writing contest every year looking for new writers of color. They also had to address how they market these books to the africanamerican community. We buy books in a different way than the mainstream community. The church and social and Civic Organizations that are opportunities for people to buy books. As i would just describe discussing about 4500 people in the dead of winter when it could be the coldest day may be snow on the ground because people cant find books at any other time of the year so they wait all year long to buy books its also a limited amount of marketing and promotion done to promote these authors. Its an important component. We have to know about them. They put their book in the front of it. The other thing that is really crucial we create major hype at our event. People get excited. We also sell books so kids can see them. When a child walks up and says instead of putting them on the shelf they see the outline of the book they are more inclined to want to read that book. We have to begin to ask them what are the interest. I meant to give you a thriller and i will give you the romance. What are your interests. With that said. The Public Library we buy books but, we dont sell the books. So what would you recommend to parents that may come in and say i want to build a Childrens Library for my children home. Home. And dedicated to diversity of literature and also in publishing. These are tools we use to serve you. I tell my patients all of the time, speak up. If you let us know, we will not take offense to help us serve you better. With that said, talk about the mission of the caucus. Yes. It was a wonderful organization in a sense that in terms of librarian, come out here to the city, you have a lot of librarians of color and those of out, other parts of the nation, its not the same. This Organization Helps professionals come to development, connects us, we network and share sources and ideas and respond to programs that are designed for our communities, so its a Nonprofit Organization and they do not have to be a librarian to join. We have a website and we have a president who is a wonderful president and others in the room who will take your membership if you would like to join us to help educate others about black folks, literature, librarian leadership. Now, the book sensor books and from what they received in the last three years, i talked that in 2013, 3200 books were received by only 6800 africanamericans but they were about written about African Americans. For 2014, we see a little increase. Other than that number, 84 were by African Americans but 180 were about African Americans. Now for 2015, there was a drop. Only received 3400 books to review but it was an increase by 106 aftercane americans and also about 269 African Americans. That was last updated april 5th, 2016, for the Panel Hearing the numbers, what do you think would be the best solution. Hes been writing for many, many years and he knows what it takes for him to get his book published. Stacy, youre a publisher and youre hearing in terms of what needs to be done. As a librarian you heard what they do to get them on the show. I want to direct the question to stacy as a publisher and then i will go around. With the numbers what about the numbers and you talked about what is being study and whats going on. Well, actually we have been doing diversity gap studies for the last three or four years now that the numbers, that we made it done and moved the needle. We are also looking at the greater culture. We are looking at publishing itself and we tried to extend the publishers survey. We did our diversity gap survey where we had independent researchers looking at their whole Company Rather than whoever happens to subscribe weekly. Similar results but we wanted to have some real baseline numbers so that we can look at how that changes over the course of the next two years. So we are looking at the greater culture because we want to recognize that its not Childrens Books only where this issue is happening. Discoverability, though, is one of the biggest issues. If you have people coming in to the library, where are the books of people of color, or people who dont know, you know, where the look for, social media is actually one of really great place to learn where the books are because there are librarians, there are writers, editors and all sorts of different people who are online and sharing their favorite books, reviewing, some are rich and color and are looking at