Creators’ Collective Action

Amidst current challenges like book bans in schools and libraries across the country, record numbers of legal restrictions on the human rights of immigrants and trans people, especially trans youth, in our community, creators play a crucial role when they come together in a unified voice of resistance. We have many models of people who resisted under the most repressive circumstances, including Maria van Lieshout’s Song of a Blackbird, a historical graphic novel based on a true story about a collective of artists in the Dutch Resistance during WWII who used their creativity to save children and to support community resistance in heavily oppressive times.There are also many organizations pushing back now, today, demonstrating the pivotal role of the creative spirit in highlighting problems, providing possible solutions, and bringing us together to lift us up. Hear from Maggie Tokuda-Hall of Authors Against Book Bans, Rhonda Roumani of Story Sunbirds, and Robert Liu-Trujillo of the Social Justice Children’s Book Fair on how they are pushing back against book bans, fighting for children in the face of war, and uplifting social justice children’s books in their community. For everyone and anyone who cares about young humans, this panel, moderated by author and professor Tomas Moniz, will invite creatives and organizers to share what gives them hope, what they do, and how we can all get involved.