Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Why Reading Matters Conference
Exploring ways to build a new audience for literature
The National Book Foundation’s Why Reading Matters conference brings together diverse stakeholders to explore a simple idea, that reading matters, from a variety of complex perspectives that includes educators, service providers, writers, librarians, academics, publishing professionals, literary activists, and more.
Since its launch in 2016, the conference has grown to a daylong event complete with a keynote presentation, celebration of the Innovations in Reading prize, author appearance, and a series of rich breakout sessions—and we hope to keep expanding.
To keep up-to-date with conference information, including calls for proposals and registration information, sign up for the newsletter.
Why Reading Matters is designed to bring together educators, non-profit administrators, librarians, academics, publishing professionals, writers, and literary activists of all kinds to discover and share ways to welcome more readers into their community. The National Book Foundation’s third Why Reading Matters conference was held on June 7, 2018 at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, and included a full day of presentations focused on reading without boundaries.
Why Reading Matters: Reading Without Boundaries featured a keynote presentation from Alvin Irby, an author talk by National Book Award Finalist Lisa Ko, and a celebration of the 2018 Innovations in Reading Prize winner, Academy of American Poets. A variety of breakout sessions focused on how we can use books to bridge divides, create new connections, and deepen understandings. The full schedule from the 2018 conference is below.
To keep up-to-date with conference information, including calls for proposals and registration information, sign up for the newsletter.
Alvin Irby is an award-winning educator, comedian, and entrepreneur. As Founder and Chief Reading Inspirer at Barbershop Books, winner of the National Book Foundation’s 2017 Innovations in Reading Prize, Irby has expanded book access for thousands of children and inspired a national movement to promote reading in barbershops. As a 2015 StandUp NBC national finalist, he beat out more than 600 comedians nationwide to showcase his stand up comedy at the Hollywood Improv in Los Angeles, CA. Irby has established himself as a thought leader in early literacy and a cultural competency specialist, captivating audiences with his passionate keynotes and insightful workshops. In 2016, Irby published his debut children’s book Gross Greg, a laugh-out-loud story that combines his passion for humor and children’s literature. Irby holds a BA from Grinnell College, an MS in Childhood Education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education, and an MPA from New York University.
Lisa Ko is the author of The Leavers, a novel which won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction, the 2018 PEN/Hemingway Award, and the 2017 Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award. Her writing has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2016, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, O. Magazine, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and the MacDowell Colony, among others. Born in Queens and raised in Jersey, she lives in Brooklyn. Visit her at lisa-ko.com.
9am-9:30am: Registration & Light Breakfast
9:30am-10am: Opening Remarks & Recognition of 2018 Innovations in Reading Prize Winner
10am-10:30am: Keynote presentation
10:45am-11:45am: Breakout sessions, round 1
11:45am-1pm: Lunch break
1pm-2pm: Breakout sessions, round 2
2:15pm-3:15pm: Breakout sessions, round 3
3:30pm-4pm: Author talk
4pm-5:30pm: Happy Hour
BREAKOUT SESSIONS – ROUND 1 (10:45am-11:45am)
Crossing Boundaries through A Book a Day
Universities hold an important role in developing the well being of a community, and the University of Pennsylvania has dedicated itself to that role by bringing diverse books into public school classrooms and community bookstores. In this workshop, presenters from the university discuss possibilities for upholding community responsibility and creating similar programs elsewhere.
Presented by:
Literary Festivals: Creating and Celebrating Literary Communities
As civic celebrations of reading, how do book festivals establish and strengthen literary communities? In this roundtable workshop, organizers from across the country discuss their signature programs and the role of festivals in the literary lives of cities.
Presented by:
Reaching from There to Here: Broadening Student Perspectives Through Place-Focused Literature
Literary journals are a key medium. In this session, literary journal The Common identifies ways educators may leverage literary journals in the classroom, as they offer a unique path to inspire and enrich students’ engagement with contemporary literature.
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Reading Together Frees Minds: The Experience of Two Prison Book Clubs
What happens when a group of prison inmates and facilitators from the outside read a book together? Learn how two different prison book clubs are creating conversations, opening minds, and offering hope.
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Word Up: Building Toward Language Justice in Our Communities
Non-profit organizations and other community spaces benefit from a better consciousness of language justice. This session will inform participants about the current discourse around language justice and equip them with the best practices for building language justice consciousness in their communities.
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Writing the Great (International) American Novel
How does an international setting interact with an American protagonist? Authors Jessica Chaffee and Deji Olukotun answer important questions regarding novels set abroad and discuss how exploring other cultures through fiction offers insights into the human experience.
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BREAKOUT SESSIONS – ROUND 2 (1pm-2pm)
2018 Innovations in Reading Panel
Join us for a discussion featuring presentations by this year’s Innovations in Reading Prize winner and honorable mentions.
Featuring:
Moderated by: Glory Edim, Founder, Well-Read Black Girl
Good Reads and Good Deeds: How Little Free Library’s Action Book Club Connects Readers and Creates Neighborhood Heroes
By combining reading with community service, Little Free Library has built a community of neighborhood heroes. Founder Todd Bol will provide an overview of the Little Free Library model that has sparked a grassroots movement of readers, helps build strongly-connected communities, and fosters greater understanding between people.
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My Voice in Yours: How a 140-Year-Old Book Club Is Having a New Kind of Conversation
Experience Traveling Stanza’s groundbreaking technology, Emerge, that allows readers to hear their own voice in seminal texts through the process of erasure poetry, and learn how this innovative approach developed by the Wick Poetry Center is being used to stage dynamic conversations about books for readers at the Chautauqua Institution—and around the world.
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Reaching Readers, Building Empathy: How Books Can Raise Awareness of Places and People Beyond U.S. Borders
How can reading build Americans’ empathy for people and places beyond U.S. borders? In this session, participants will be encouraged to share concrete ways literary professionals and enthusiasts can use book clubs, author events, and online book communities to generate energy and empathy around issues of global importance.
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United Through Reading: Supporting a Vulnerable Population
Why are the children of military professionals considered an “at-risk” population? This workshop highlights the vulnerability of an underserved population and how shared story time supports the educational development, health, and well-being of military children and other “at-risk” communities.
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BREAKOUT SESSIONS – ROUND 3 (2:15pm-3:15pm)
Connecting the Classroom: Using Citizen to Engage Youth Advocacy & Creativity
Using Claudia Rankine’s 2014 National Book Award finalist book of poetry, Citizen, Community-Word Project will suggest concrete methods of using reading and literature to engage meaningful dialogue around social injustices, as well as ways to utilize that collective voice in the community.
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Reading Without Boundaries, Reading the World
AmazonCrossing works to connect readers from around the world with translations of best-selling and prize-winning books, making books accessible to new readers. In this session, AmazonCrossing’s Director Gabriella Page-Fort discusses how reading in translation is an integral part of reading widely and well.
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What Librarians Know About Adult Readers (And You Can Too)
Librarians use powerful and inventive tools to appeal to adult readers, but their knowledge needn’t stop at the library. New York Public Library staff members Stephanie Anderson and Lynn Lobash will share their secrets around tools and knowledge that can be used by a broad range of book professionals to create more opportunities for adults to discover, read, and discuss books.
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Why Reading About Girls Matters
Award-winning authors Brandy Colbert and Elana K. Arnold will explore the power of reading girl-centered stories, their own experience writing for and about girls, and commonly-held biases about girls, both on the page and in the world.
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Why Reading Matters to Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Next Chapter Book Club will highlight the impact that book clubs have on adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities by presenting book clubs as sources of community, confidence, and intellectual zones without academic expectations.
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