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Reading and Writing Toward Freedom

Presented By The Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy

The Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy, the library and the DCPL Foundation are thrilled to present an award-winning author panel to discuss racial equity in literature and literacy education.

Ellen Oh

Ellen Oh is a writer of children’s books. Some of her books have won awards from organizations and people who are not related to her. She used to be a lawyer and an adjunct college instructor before realizing that it was all very boring and she enjoyed writing books much more. She is the editor and author of the 6 starred reviewed You Are Here, with eleven other amazing authors and the author of the middle grade novels Haru, Zombie Dog Hero, Finding Junie Kim, The Dragon Egg Princess, and The Spirit Hunters trilogy (Spirit Hunters, Island of Monsters, and Something Wicked), and the YA fantasy trilogy The Prophecy Series (Prophecy, Warrior, and King). She is the editor of the middle grade anthology Flying Lessons and Other Stories, and the YA anthology A Thousand Beginnings and Endings. Ellen is also a founding member of We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing diversity in children’s literature.

Ellen is Korean American and grew up in New York City, well mostly in Brooklyn. She loves food and finding new restaurants to try but hates cooking, even though she’s quite good at it. She went to NYU and Georgetown U law center in Washington, DC, which is where she met her husband, who is also a boring lawyer. They have three big, very talented kids who want to be a lawyer, a teacher, and a webtoon artist. They also have two small dogs who believe they are human and are terribly spoiled. Tokki is a coton du tulear, which is a fancy way of saying little white fluffy dog, and he is really adorable but very grumpy and will bite you. Kiko is a goldendoodle who is the sweetest and silliest goofball who loves everyone, especially Tokki, even though he is mean to her. They all live in Rockville, MD where Ellen has still been unsuccessful in finding a bagel that lives up to her high New Yorker standards.

Ibi Zoboi

Ibi Zoboi holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her novel American Street was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of Pride and My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, a New York Times bestseller. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her husband and their three children. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.

Glory Edim

Glory Edim is an author, community activist, and the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a nationwide book club turned literary arts non-profit that celebrates the life-changing power of literature. 

She has won numerous awards for her work supporting and sustaining literature, including the 2017 Innovator’s Award from the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes and the Madam C.J. Walker Award from the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Her best-selling anthologies, Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, and On Girlhood, were published in 2018 and 2021, respectively. 

Using literature and storytelling as a tool for advocacy; specifically, in the areas of mental health and gender equity, Glory works nationally to shift the narratives of Black girls and women in society. She is currently developing a DC-based youth enrichment program, Camp Joy, for middle school students and working on a memoir that explores the intimate relationship between reading and self-healing. She is an alumna of Howard University and resides in Washington D.C. with her son, Zikomo.

This event is held in partnership with the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy and is generously sponsored by the DC Public Library Foundation.

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