Author, advocate for diversity in children’s literature to speak at Lawrence festival

photo by: Contributed

Author Ellen Oh is pictured in this contributed photo.

An author and advocate for more diverse book collections will be the featured speaker at an East Asian literary festival in Lawrence this week.

Author Ellen Oh will deliver a public lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Carnegie Building, 200 W. Ninth St., as part of the Center for East Asian Studies Literature Festival.

Oh is the author of “Finding Junie Kim,” a novel that explores how a middle school student confronts racism. The novel, which is the featured book in this year’s festival, is inspired by Oh’s mother and her experiences during the Korean War.

Oh also is a founding member of the nonprofit organization We Need Diverse Books, which promotes more diverse works in the field of children’s literature.

The literary festival, which also involves KU’s School of Education, will include several workshops for K-12 teachers and education students on Wednesday and Thursday.

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