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Friday April 11, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Young Adult fiction is a relatively new genre but in the past two decades has exploded in popularity. Whether fantasy, sci-fi, or contemporary, the genre is ripe for reflection for adolescent readers as they explore their identities in the context of contemporary issues like authenticity, privilege, and intersectionality. Join YA authors Rie Lee and Jennifer Yu in a conversation about writing themes of identity in books intended for teen readers. Rie Lee’s recent debut, Vessel, is a dystopian novel centered around a girl wrestling with her forbidden sexuality as the poster child for her religious cult, and Jennifer Yu’s latest novel Grief in the Fourth Dimension explores how identity, family, and community affect the ways our lives (and deaths) are remembered. The authors will discuss how speculative worlds can be used to balance accessibility, storytelling, and realistic characterization while exploring ever-shifting and nuanced senses of identity. This conversation will be moderated by festival intern and EWU MFA fiction candidate Emily Ladd. Purchase the author's books via Auntie's Bookstore!

This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited, please arrive early to secure a spot! Thank you to the Spokane Public Library for their partnership! 

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Authors
avatar for Emily Ladd

Emily Ladd

Emily Ladd is a writer with a short attention span. At any given time, they may be working on several different novels, a few short stories, and three cups of coffee all at once. Emily received their bachelor's degree in art and communication and celebrated by immediately jumping... Read More →
avatar for Jennifer Yu

Jennifer Yu

Jennifer Yu is a young adult novelist currently living in Moscow, ID, where she writes and teaches English at the University of Idaho. When not writing or teaching, you can find her weeping intermittently about the Boston Celtics, photos of the Earth from outer space, and the etymology... Read More →
avatar for Rie Lee

Rie Lee

RIE LEE (she/her/hers) is a recovering true believer. She's a little too obsessed with cults and almost definitely on some kind of FBI watchlist for researching pipe bombs.  She is an alum of the MFA at EWU and is currently pursuing an MLIS focusing on user experience and the intersection... Read More →
Friday April 11, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Spokane Central Library, Conference Room B 906 West Main Avenue, Spokane, WA, USA

Attendees (5)


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