Teaching Young Adult Literature with and through Heart, Hope, and Humanity

11/15/2024

Teaching Young Adult Literature with and through Heart, Hope, and Humanity
by
Alice Hays & Steffany Comfort Maher

Can you feel it? The energy? The buzz of English teachers preparing to throw on their cardigans and blazers to toss “just right” words around? The excitement builds as we approach one of the most invigorating events of the year: the National Council Teachers of English Annual Convention! This year we get to experience the glory of Boston and mingle with thousands of scholars and teachers who all are equally passionate about English education. The English Language Arts Teacher Educators (ELATE) Commission on the Study and Teaching of Young Adult Literature is excited to announce our round tables centered on teaching young adult literature to build a better world using heart, hope and humanity! These round tables are open to scholars, teachers, and students alike. Join us to discuss new and classic young adult literature and interesting ways to approach using young adult literature pedagogically and intellectually. Here is a link to the table of presentations.

In even more exciting news, we have two incredible young adult literature authors who will be our keynote speakers- George M. Johnson and Josh Galarza! Following their keynote addresses, we will break into the Roundtable Discussions.

We hope to see you there!
Alice Hays & Steffany Comfort Maher

Teaching Young Adult Literature with and through Heart, Hope, and Humanity
Saturday, 11/23, 2:45 to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Room 210 C, Meeting Level 2, Convention Center

George M. Johnson (they/them) is an Emmy nominated, award-winning, and bestselling Black nonbinary author and activist. They have written on race, gender, sex, and culture for Essence, the Advocate, BuzzFeed News, Teen Vogue, and more than forty other national publications. George has appeared on BuzzFeed’s AM2DM as well as on MSNBC. They are also a proud HBCU alum twice over and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Their debut memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue, was a New York Times bestseller and garnered many accolades. It remains the second-most banned book in the United States, according to the American Library Association. For their work fighting book bans and challenges, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) honored George with its Free Speech Defender Award, and TIME Magazine named them one of the “100 Next Most Influential People in the World.” Originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, they now live in Los Angeles, California. George's latest work of YA nonfiction, Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known just published this fall.

Josh Galarza is a longtime Montessori educator, as well as a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking and book arts. Galarza earned his BA in English and BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he later taught printmaking. His research centers around male gender performance, queer issues, body liberation, and Chicano studies. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky is a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Josh currently lives in Richmond, VA, where he teaches in the English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University while completing an MFA in creative writing.

Dr. Steve Bickmore
Creator and Curator

Dr. Bickmore is a Professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and a past president of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.

Dr. Gretchen Rumohr
Co-Curator

Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and writing program administrator at Aquinas College, where she teaches writing and language arts methods. She is also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. She lives with her four girls and a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier in west Michigan.

Bickmore's
Co-Edited Books

Meet
Evangile Dufitumukiza!

Evangile is a native of Kigali, Rwanda. He is a college student that Steve meet while working in Rwanda as a missionary. In fact, Evangile was one of the first people who translated his English into Kinyarwanda.

Steve recruited him to help promote Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media while Steve is doing his mission work.

He helps Dr. Bickmore promote his academic books and sometimes send out emails in his behalf.

You will notice that while he speaks fluent English, it often does look like an "American" version of English. That is because it isn't. His English is heavily influence by British English and different versions of Eastern and Central African English that is prominent in his home country of Rwanda.

Welcome Evangile into the YA Wednesday community as he learns about Young Adult Literature and all of the wild slang of American English vs the slang and language of the English he has mastered in his beautiful country of Rwanda.

While in Rwanda, Steve has learned that it is a poor English speaker who can only master one dialect and/or set of idioms in this complicated language.

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