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Writing on Race and Identity

Partnership with the Institute of Racial Equity in Literacy

In partnership with the Institute of Racial Equity join us for an award-winning author panel with Carole Lindstrom and Jason Reynolds, moderated by K.C. Boyd, the 2022 School Librarian of the Year!

The MLK Library is excited to host a thoughtful discussion with writers and activists who explore issues of race in their work as part of the 2023 Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy (IREL). In this conversation, the panelists will explore their relationship with race and identity and how it shapes the different kinds of creative work they produce, from podcasts to novels to op-eds and more. By identifying our own personal relationships with race and racism, we can then disrupt and dismantle the ways that our literacy practices may harm students and work towards a liberatory personal and professional approach to learning.

Register to attend and learn more about the panelist below. Courtesy of the DC Library Foundation attendees will receive complimentary works from Carole Lindstrom and Jason Reynolds, including:

We Are Water Protectors, Carole Lindstrom

My Powerful Hair, Carole Lindstrom

Jason Reynolds 

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Stamped (For Kids)Miles Morales: SpiderMan

Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel

CAROLE LINDSTROM

GIRLS DANCE, BOYS FIDDLE is Carole's debut picture book. GIRLS DANCE, BOYS FIDDLE was inspired by the fiddle and its importance to the Metis culture. Her grandfather was a fiddler and could play a mean jig. Carole is Anishinabe/Metis and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland. 

Carole has been a voracious reader and library geek ever since she was growing up in Nebraska. On weekends you could usually find her at the library lost in the book stacks or holed up in her bedroom with a good book. It wasn't until she had her son, that she discovered her love of writing for children and began to work seriously on her writing.

JASON REYNOLDS

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of many award-winning books, including Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely), Long Way Down, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (with Ibram X. Kendi), Stuntboy, in the Meantime (illustrated by Raúl the Third), and Ain’t Burned All the Bright (with artwork by Jason Griffin). The recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honors, Reynolds is also the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, and various media outlets. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC.

K.C. BOYD

K.C. Boyd is currently a library media specialist with the Washington D.C. Public School System.  She has previously worked as the Lead Librarian for the East St. Louis School District #189 in East St. Louis, IL., a Area Library Coordinator for Chicago Public Schools and a District  Coordinator for the Mayor Daley Book Club for Middle School Students.  She is a second generation educator and holds Master’s degrees in Library Information Science, Media Communications, and Education Leadership. Her favorite quotes, “Reading is the gateway skill that makes all learning possible,” and “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth,” drives her commitment to serving marginalized African-American children, young adults, and school communities.

During the summer of 2015, Boyd began working for the East St. Louis School District #189 in downstate Illinois.  Boyd led a team of librarians in re-starting a dormant district school library program for eight schools.  This was a herculean project that included weeding books out of the dated library collections and organizing all collections by the Dewey Decimal System.  In addition to this work, performing a ten month retrospective conversion project that included training new librarians on the subjects of cataloging, importing/exporting books and overall functions of the school library program.  Boyd also led this team of librarians in the challenging tasks of developing a library culture, love of reading and respect for the library program at their schools.  During the 2016-2017 school year marked the first time East St. Louis School Libraries used a web based circulation system and checked out books for its K-12 grade students.  Over 15,000 books were checked out in school libraries by students during that school year, a first for this school district.

In 2014, Boyd was inducted into the CPS ‘Librarian Hall of Fame,’ specifically for her work at Wendell Phillips Academy High School where she was the recipient of the Department of Libraries and Information Services 2012 and 2014 VITAL Technology Grants.  Through these grants, Boyd helped successfully help transform the educational landscape for at that time, the  Level 1 ranked Phillips high school through integrating technology into the curriculum.  As the creator/producer of the award-winning ‘Behind the Paws’ students news YouTube program, she helped change and heighten the image of Phillips Academy within the city of Chicago. This work did not go unnoticed as CPS sought her advice and used her work promoting and ‘branding,’ Phillips Academy as a model for other schools within the school district to follow.  In the spring of 2015, Boyd was featured on the CPS ‘Social Media Toolkit Page,’ named a CPS ‘Social Media Trailblazer,’ and was awarded the coveted CPS ‘Ones to Watch Award.’ 

Boyd is currently serving the greater library community through her leadership in a number of organizations.  Boyd currently serves on the executive boards for the District of Columbia Library Association and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.  She is an active committee member for the American Library Association Chapter Council representing Washington D.C., American Association of School Librarians Digital Tools, American Library Association’s Center for the Future of Libraries Advisory Group, EveryLibrary Institute and Advisory Board, and the Washington Teachers’ Union Equity Collaborative.   In addition, Boyd is a National Ambassador representing the Washington D.C. area for the Checkology Virtual Classroom and The News Literacy Project.  

For reasonable accommodations, please contact the Center for Accessibility at least seven (7) days in advance at 202-727-2142 or DCPLaccess@dc.gov

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