Follow us:
DR. BICKMORE'S YA WEDNESDAY
  • Blog
  • Contributors
  • Weekend Picks 2021
  • Weekend Picks 2020
  • UNLV online Summit 2020
  • YA Course Fall 2019
  • Bickmore's Posts
  • Weekend Picks 2019
  • Weekend Picks old
  • English Education, CIL 642 Resources
  • Contact
  • Music and YA
  • Zeiter LDC
  • YA Research
  • About
  • National Book Award for Young People's Literature
  • Books I Just Happen to Like
  • Writers as a Positive Influence
  • 2018 Summit
    • 2019 Summit on Teaching YA
    • YA Course Fall 17
  • Untitled

LSU Young Adult Literature Conference 2015 - Day Five Recap

6/5/2015

2 Comments

 

Author Sharon Draper Closes the Conference on Day 5

Sharon M. Draper closed out this year's conference with a very personal keynote address in which she talked about honoring her later grandmother and father through her novel, Stella by Starlight.

"I didn't know the value of my grandmother at the time," she shared of her childhood summers spent visiting her father's mother. "She was remarkable. When she was forced to drop out of school in the 5th grade, she kept a journal for the rest of her life."

That same journal influenced the story line of Stella by Starlight.

"The art of storytelling, especially black storytelling, is something we are losing," she said. "It's so important because storytelling is what pulls us all together."

In that same line, Draper shared her own longing for diverse characters in the books she read as a child.

"We've been talking all week about diversity in books. When I was a kid, there was none because children of color were not considered," she shared. "And it's not that we weren't considered important, we just weren't considered at all. We were invisible."

Still she found ways to discover the diversity she craved, citing a book about a Chinese empress as her first eye opening experience into a world and character that wasn't strictly white.

"There needs to be more books like this, so there are no more little girls like me who say there isn't a book in this whole library that reflects me," she said. "We also need diverse experiences. And most of all, we need diversity of new writers to write those diverse books."

Draper reiterated that diversity went far beyond merely more black characters and stories in circulation.

"My dream is to have diversity be put out there, but I want it to be done so well and to have so much of it that we don't even notice it anymore. The idea of a black or asian character should no longer be remarkable or novel. We aren't there yet, but it's the direction we are heading. We aren't yet to the point where we can assume that there is a book out there for everyone to see themselves in. I want children to have a vision of the world in which they are included regardless of what they look like or where they live. I want everyone to be able to dream in color."

For more info on Draper's work, click here.
Follow Draper on Twitter at @sharonmdraper.
2 Comments
Abbie Smith
3/28/2016 11:33:35 am

I went to a predominately white high school, and, sadly, most of the novels in our library reflected that demographic. I was (and still am) a very avid reader and went through our library's books like candy. One day I stumbled across Sharon Draper's novels in our library and, since I had yet to read anything by the author, I checked two out, not knowing anything about her or them besides what I read on the back cover. After beginning the first novel, I realized that the characters were all African American. I was surprised that a) (gasp) my library had a novel about someone who did not look like me and b) how terrible it was that I had read so few YA books throughout my high school career with non-white protagonists. As I finished the book (November Blues--which I loved) I realized the importance of diversity in YA literature. How would I have felt if I was African American and visited a library like mine where only a select few novels represented my life and family? I continued to read Draper's novels and my experience with those texts helped me to see out past my white, high school bubble. I love her statement that she wants diversity in literature to "be done so well and to have so much of it that we don't even notice it anymore." How great would it be if today's high schoolers were not surprised like I was when a character in their novel is not white?

Reply
הפקת אירועים link
5/22/2018 09:29:44 am

Hi, thanks for sharing. very important stuff

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dr. Bickmore is an associate professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and the current president elect of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.

    Co-Edited Books

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Chris-lynch

    Blogs to Follow

    nerdybookclub
    http://blogs.ncte.org/  
    yalsa.ala.org/blog/

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly