MyLibraryNYC's FREE Virtual Author Talks 
If you cannot attend these virtual talks live due to scheduling conflicts, register anyway. The talks are being recorded and will be available for 7 days! You can show the recording to all your classes! These are FREE events offered by the Queens Public Library system.
​This fall and winter, MyLibraryNYC is offering a variety of wonderful authors and illustrators to talk about their lives, their work, and their creative process with our students. To register for any of our virtual author talks, scan the QR code or visit: queenslib.org/MyLibraryNYC24-25. 

SHANNON ROGERS (VIRTUAL) - Wednesday, October 23, 10:00 am

Shannon C.F. Rogers is a multiracial American writer of Filipinx and European descent. Her debut novel, I’D RATHER BURN THAN BLOOM, won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Youth Literature in 2024. Shannon’s writing has appeared in Bodega Magazine, Newfound Journal, and on stage with Tricklock Company, Lady Luck Productions, and the UNM Words Afire Festival of New Plays.  She earned her BA in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in Writing For Young People at Antioch University Los Angeles. She has served as an educator, after-school program director, and lost mitten finder at schools in Albuquerque, Chicago, and NYC, and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. 

​FREDERICK JOSEPH (VIRTUAL) - Wednesday, November 13, 10 am

Frederick Joseph is a Yonkers, NY raised, two-time New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. His books include a poetry collection entitled We Alive, Beloved, two books of nonfiction entitled Patriarchy Blues, and The Black Friend, a collaboration entitled Better Than We Found It, and a children’s book, The Courage to Dream, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Joseph’s books have been named an Amazon Editors’ Pick, notable by the International Literacy Association, Best Children’s Book of the Year by Bank Street College, a Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice selection, nominated for the In The Margins award, Booklist Editors’ Choice, a Notable Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for Social Studies, a Dogwood Title by the Missouri Associations of School Librarians, as well as longlisted for the Green Earth Book Award, and more. He has written for The Boston Globe, Essence, Huffington Post, AdWeek, and Cosmopolitan, and won both the Letter Review Poetry prize and a Letter Review Essay prize. His most recent writing on politics and culture can be found on his Substack.

PATRICIA PARK (VIRTUAL) - ​Wednesday, December 11, 9:45 am

Patricia Park is a tenured professor of creative writing at American University, a Fulbright Scholar in Creative Arts,  and a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. Her debut YA novel, Imposter  Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim, received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal  and was an NPR Book of the Day. Her acclaimed adult novel  Re Jane was named an Editors’ Choice by the New York Times Book Review; the winner of an American Library Association award; an O, The Oprah Magazine pick; and an NPR Fresh Air pick, among other honors. What’s Eating Jackie Oh? is inspired byher love of watching competitive TV cooking shows and creating somewhat edible meals from leftovers. It was also inspired by Patricia’s New York Times op-ed, “I’m Done Being Your Model Minority.” Patricia’s writing has also appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Guardian, Salon, and others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York

JAVAKA STEPTOE (VIRTUAL) - Wednesday, January 22, 9:45 am

JAVAKA STEPTOE (In-person) - Tuesday, February 4, 9:45 am

The in-person talk is at the CENTRAL LIBRARY located at 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica 
Javaka Steptoe won the 2017 Caldecott Medal for his picture book biography Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Little, Brown). The book won many other honors, too, including the 2017 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, and multiple starred reviews. His debut picture book, In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers (Lee & Low Books), earned him a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, in addition to a nomination for Outstanding Children’s Literature Work at the 1998 NAACP Image Awards. Since that time, Steptoe has illustrated and/or written more than a dozen books for youth readers, collaborating with some of the top names in the business—Walter Dean Myers, Nikki Grimes and Karen English. Javaka Steptoe travels extensively reading and conducting workshops at schools, libraries, museums, and conferences across the country and internationally.