UPCOMING author EVENTS
Check back soon for upcoming author events!
READ-U is proud to promote events that share our mission and vision. Most of these events are open to both families and educators.
To receive information about all READ-U events, please contact us.
READ-U is proud to promote events that share our mission and vision. Most of these events are open to both families and educators.
To receive information about all READ-U events, please contact us.
past author events
Scroll below to check out previous READ-U author events.
Elly Swartz
September 11, 2023 Virtual Visit to Granite School District Teacher Comments: “I really liked how she talked about fighting the stigma around mental health and getting help for mental health. When I first introduced the book, I included the protagonist's struggle with social anxiety in the summary, and I was surprised by how many students shared their experiences with it. I think [Elly’s] talk was relatable for those students and made them feel seen, but also made the topic less scary for students who might be struggling but not even know it.” - Lindsay Allen, Teacher, Granite School District |
Maizy Chen's Last Chance and the Chinese American Experience presented by Lisa Yee
April 20, 2022 Virtual Visit Viewing Location: College of Education, Sorenson Arts & Education Complex Art Works for Kids Auditorium Lisa Yee was born and raised near Los Angeles. As a kid, she loved reading, opening brand new boxes of cereal (to get the prize), and riding the teacups at Disneyland. Even though Lisa has been paid to eat chocolate, the thing she likes doing most is writing--except for when she has writer's block, or needs a snack, or is distracted. Her latest work Maizy Chen's Last Chance, debuted in February 2022. According to Yee, “Out of the 21 novels I've written, this is my most personal book so far. Like Maizy, my story began in China - a place I’ve never been to. Like Maizy, I'm a Chinese American from Los Angeles. And, like Maizy, when I was 11-years old I knew little about my family history.” This novel is a work of fiction about a contemporary girl. But it’s also about Maizy's family, the owners of the Golden Palace restaurant and, for generations, the only Asian Americans in Last Chance, Minnesota. See more of Lisa's work here. Teacher Comments: "Lisa Yee gave en absolutely outstanding virtual visit to 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classroom in Utah. Her passion and humor shone so clearly though everything she said--and electrified the students! She answered each of their thoughtful questions with kindness, enthusiasm, and such respect to them as writers." "One of my most struggling readers wants to read ALL of her books now!" |
Virtual Classroom Author Visit with Lisa Yee
April 20, 2022 Prior to presenting her author talk, Lisa Yee also met with a 4th grade class, a 5th grade class, and several intermediate grade classrooms via zoom. She talked about her life as a writer and encouraged students to ask lots of questions. If you are interested in hosting a future author visit in connection with READ-U, please click here. |
When Words Heal presented by
I.W. Gregorio March 23, 2022 Virtual Visit Viewing Location: College of Education, Sorenson Arts & Education Complex Art Works for Kids Auditorium I. W. Gregorio is a practicing surgeon by day, masked avenging YA writer by night. After getting her MD at Yale, she did her residency at Stanford, where she met the intersex patient who inspired her debut novel, None of the Above (Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins), which was a finalist for the 2016 Lambda Literary Award, a Spring 2015 Publishers Weekly Flying Start, an ALA Booklist Top Ten Sports Book for Youth, and a 2015 ABC Children’s Group Best Book for Young Readers. It was also named to the 2016 American Library Association Rainbow List. Her second novel, This is My Brain in Love, was published in April 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She is proud to be board member of interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, and is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books™ and its former VP of Development. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Newsweek, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, New York Daily News, Scientific American and Journal of General Internal Medicine, among others. A recovering ice hockey player, she lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children. |
Finding Home presented by Thi Bui
November 7, 2019 Salt Lake Public Library Nancy Tessman Auditorium Thi Bui was born in Vietnam three months before the end of the Vietnam War, and came to the United States in 1978. Her debut graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do (Abrams ComicArts, 2017), has been selected as UCLA’s Common Book for 2017, a National Book Critics Circle finalist in autobiography, an Eisner Award finalist in Reality Based Comics, and made Bill Gates’s top five favorite books of 2017. Bui was a founding teacher of Oakland International High School, the first public high school in California for recent immigrants and English learners. She is now faculty member at the California College of the Arts. Bui is currently researching and drawing a work of graphic nonfiction about how Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are impacted by detention and deportation. See Bui’s work here |
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An Evening with Author Pablo Cartaya
April 2, 2019 College of Education, Sorenson Arts & Education Complex Art Works for Kids Auditorium Pablo Cartaya is an award-winning author, speaker, actor, and educator. In 2018, he received a Pura Belpré Author Honor for his middle grade novel, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora. His second novel, Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish, is available now. Learn more about Pablo at pablocartaya.com and follow him on Twitter @phcartaya. |
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