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Posted by: Alli Hartley-Kong
Learn what inspires Angie Thomas in this excerpt from her 2021 National Book Festival talk and related Library of Congress collections.
Posted in: African American History, Lit Bit, Writing
Posted by: Alli Hartley-Kong
Ever since I started working at the Library of Congress, I always pull up loc.gov/collections when I’m reading historical fiction to find relevant real-life photographs, newspapers, and documents. Recently, I read Malinda Lo’s Young Adult historical fiction novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club. The story follows Lily, a Chinese-American teenager living in San Francisco …
Posted in: Asian American History, Books & Author Programs, For Teens, LGBTQ, Writing
Posted by: Alli Hartley-Kong
This post was co-written by Alli Hartley-Kong and Monica Valentine, Education Programs Specialist in the Informal Learning Office. How much diversity do you see in teen romance novels? During the pandemic, author Dhonielle Clayton spent time with her teenage niece binge-watching movies. As Clayton explained at the 2022 National Book Festival, her niece asked, “why …
Posted in: African American History, Books & Author Programs, For Teens, Writing
Posted by: Alli Hartley-Kong
This post was written by Leah Knobel. It was originally posted on the Library of Congress blog. Meg Medina, a writer whose work explores how culture and identity intersect through the eyes of children and young adults, today was named as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2023-2024, the Library of Congress and …
Posted in: Books & Author Programs, Hispanic American History, Writing
Posted by: Alli Hartley-Kong
This is the final guest post by Jason Reynolds, who is concluding his third term as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. It was originally posted on the Library of Congress Blog. FIVE WAYS TO SAY GOODBYE (a farewell newsletter) SEE YOU SOON. This is not the same as, See you later. I repeat, this is …
Posted in: Writing