(NAME-MCE) Great APA authors at the 13th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education (NECME)

Wed May 28 15:59:43 EDT 2008

** *Great APA authors at the *13th Annual New England Conference on
Multicultural Education (NECME)
October 8, 2008, Connecticut Convention Center - Hartford, Connecticut
http://www.necme.org
**
*Fusion Stories: Next-Gen Asian-American Books for Young Readers
*
Without a doubt, an Asian American vision has moved into the mainstream of
the children 's literary world. Five authors discuss why a new generation of
readers need stories featuring Asian American characters who are 100%
American. Fusion Stories (www.fusion-stories.com) critically acclaimed
authors include Mitali Perkins, author of *First Daughter: White House
Rules, *Newton MA; Paula Yoo, author of *Good Enough, *Los Angeles, CA;
David Yoo, author of *Girls for Breakfast, *Boston, MA; Janet Wong, author
of *Minn and Jake 's Almost Terrible Summer,* Princeton, NJ; and An Na,
author of *The Fold, *Burlington, VT.

*An Na <http://www.anwriting.com/>* (THE FOLD) was born in Korea and grew up
in Southern California. She is the author of two previous novels, WAIT FOR
ME and A STEP FROM HEAVEN which was the winner of the Michael L. Printz
Award and a National Book Award Finalist.

*Mitali Perkins <http://www.mitaliperkins.com/>* (FIRST DAUGHTER) author of
MONSOON SUMMER (ALA Quick Pick) and RICKSHAW GIRL (Jane Addams Honor Book),
was born in Kolkata, India and immigrated at age seven to the States with
her family. Her blog (mitaliblog.com <http://www.mitaliperkins.com/>) is a
virtual fire escape where she chats about books, movies, music, television,
and life between cultures. Sparrow, the protagonist of the FIRST DAUGHTER
novels, also blogs at sparrowblog.com <http://www.sparrowblog.com/>, keeping
track of the hype about the real First Kid wannabes.
Mitali Bose Perkins was born in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Her name means
"friendly" in Bangla, which she tried to live up to because the Bose family
moved so often – they lived in India, Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York
City, and Mexico City before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area when she
was in middle school. Mitali studied political science at Stanford
University and public policy at U.C. Berkeley, surviving academia thanks to
a steady diet of kids' books from public libraries and bookstores, and went
on to teach middle school, high school, and college students. She lived in
India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and California with her husband and twin sons
before the Perkins family moved to Newton, Massachusetts, where they live
now.

Mitali's books include Monsoon Summer (Random House), an ALA Quick Pick, a
Bank Street Best Book, a New York Library Book for the Teen Age, and a Texas
Library Association TAYSHAS Best Book for Young Adults. She also wrote The
Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen (Little Brown), which was an ALA
Book for Reluctant Readers and the winner of the Christian School's
Association's Lamplighter Award, Rickshaw Girl (Charlesbridge), which won
the Maine Lupine Honor Award and the Julia Ward Howe Honor Award, and First
Daughter: Extreme American Makeover (Dutton), which was followed by a
sequel, First Daughter: White House Rules (Dutton). Forthcoming titles
include Secret Keeper (Random House, 2009), and The Bamboo People
(Charlesbridge, 2010).

*Janet Wong* <http://www.janetwong.com/>(MINN AND JAKE) is the author of
eighteen books for children, mainly picture books and poetry collections,
including THE DUMPSTER DIVER (Candlewick) and TWIST: Yoga Poems
(McElderry/Simon and Schuster). A former lawyer, she chose to write because
she wanted to "do something important – and couldn't think of anything more
important than working with children."

Janet S. Wong was born in Los Angeles, and grew up in Southern and Northern
California. As part of her undergraduate program at UCLA, she spent her
junior year in France, studying art history at the Université de Bordeaux.
When she returned from France, Janet founded the UCLA Immigrant Children's
Art Project, a program focused on teaching refugee children to express
themselves through art.

After graduating from UCLA, summa cum laude, with a B.A. in History and
College Honors, Janet then obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she
was a director of the Yale Law and Technology Association and worked for New
Haven Legal Aid. After practicing corporate and labor law for a few years
for GTE and Universal Studios Hollywood, she made a dramatic career
change—choosing to write for young people instead. Her successful switch
from law to children's literature has been the subject of several articles
and television programs, most notably an O Magazine article, a "Remembering
Your Spirit" segment on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and the Fine Living
Channel's "Radical Sabbatical."

Janet's poems and stories have been featured in many textbooks and
anthologies, and also in some more unusual venues. Poems from *Behind the
Wheel* <http://www.janetwong.com/books/behindthewheel.cfm> have been
performed on a car-talk radio show. "Albert J. Bell" from *A Suitcase of
Seaweed* <http://www.janetwong.com/books/suitcaseofseaweed.cfm> was selected
to appear on 5,000 subway and bus posters as part of the New York City
Metropolitan Transit Authority's "Poetry in Motion" program, and was later
highlighted on the Hallmark Channel's "New Morning" show. And, in April
2003, Janet was one of five children's authors invited to read at The White
House Easter Egg Roll.

Janet and her books have received numerous awards and honors, such as the
International Reading Association's "Celebrate Literacy Award" for exemplary
service in the promotion of literacy, and the prestigious Stone Center
Recognition of Merit, given by the Claremont Graduate School. Janet also has
been appointed to two terms on the Commission on Literature of the National
Council of Teachers of English.

Janet currently resides near Princeton, NJ, with her husband Glenn and her
son Andrew.

*Paula Yoo <http://www.paulayoo.com/>** *is an acclaimed children's book
author and novelist, TV drama screenwriter, and musician. Her debut novel, GOOD
ENOUGH<http://www.amazon.com/Good-Enough-Paula-Yoo/dp/0060790857/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203758334&sr=1-1>,
was released February 5, 2008 from HarperCollins <http://harperteen.com/>.
She is also the author of the children's non-fiction picture book, *Sixteen
Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee
Story*<http://www.amazon.com/Sixteen-Years-Seconds-Sammy-Story/dp/158430247X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203758334&sr=1-2>(illustrated
by Dom
Lee <http://www.domandk.com/>), published by Lee & Low Books in 2003. It won
the Lee & Low 2003 New Voices Award, received starred reviews from BookList
and Kirkus Reviews, and was on the 2006 Texas BlueBonnet Masterlist and the
IRA 2006 Notable Book list. Her second picture book, *Shooting Star: The
Anna May Wong Story*, about legendary screen star Anna May Wong, will be
illustrated by Lin Wang <http://www.linstudio.com/> and published in Spring
2009 by Lee & Low Books <http://www.leeandlow.com/>.

Paula's TV writing credits include NBC's The West
Wing<http://imdb.com/title/tt0200276/>,
FOX's Tru Calling <http://imdb.com/title/tt0364817/>, The N (Paramount/MTV
cable network)'s Beyond the Break <http://imdb.com/title/tt0448950/>, The
CW's Hidden Palms <http://imdb.com/title/tt0790820/>, and LIFETIME's Side
Order of Life <http://imdb.com/title/tt0862824/>. She graduated with a B.A.
cum laude in English from Yale University <http://www.yale.edu/>, an M.S. in
Journalism from Columbia University <http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/>,
and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson
College<http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~mfa/newwebsite/homepage.php>,
where she was the recipient of the prestigious Larry Levis Fellowship in
Fiction. Before becoming a full-time author and screenwriter, she was a
journalist (staff feature writer/reporter for The Seattle
Times<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html>,
The Detroit News <http://www.detnews.com/>, and PEOPLE
Magazine<http://www.people.com/people>'s
Los Angeles bureau).
   When not writing, Paula is a professional freelance violinist.
Classically trained, Paula studied violin at the Hartt School of
Music<http://harttweb.hartford.edu/>and Yale
University <http://yale.edu/> and was concertmaster of the Detroit Civic
Symphony Orchestra <http://www.detroitsymphony.com/main.taf?p=4,3>,
principal second of the Yale Symphony Orchestra<http://research.yale.edu/yso/>,
and a member of the Santa Monica <http://www.smsymphony.org/> and Torrance
Symphony Orchestras.<http://www.geocities.com/the_notables/torrance_symphony_orchestra.html>She
has performed numerous classical chamber music recitals throughout the
LA area, including concerts with the Los Angeles Chamber
Players<http://www.geocities.com/compose4food/LA_Chamber_Players.html>.
Paula also loves playing alternative rock on her Fender electric violin and
Celtic fiddle! She has performed, toured, and recorded with a number of
national rock acts including Arthur Lee of
Love<http://www.myspace.com/lovewitharthurlee>,
Spiritualized <http://www.myspace.com/spiritualizeduk>, The
Dilettantes<http://www.myspace.com/thedilettantes>,
Dylan Campbell, Kathleen "Bird" York <http://www.myspace.com/birdyork>, Anne
McCue <http://www.myspace.com/annemccue>, Bright Blue
Gorilla<http://www.myspace.com/brightbluegorilla>,
The NOW People <http://www.myspace.com/thenowpeople>, Kissing
Cousins<http://www.myspace.com/kissingcousins>,
Wait Think Fast <http://www.myspace.com/waitthinkfast>, Emma
Burgess,<http://www.myspace.com/emmaburgess> Buck
McCoy <http://www.myspace.com/buckmccoy>, Listing
Ship<http://www.myspace.com/listingship>and Random
AOK <http://www.myspace.com/randomaofk>.

Paula's adorable baby brother DAVID YOO <http://daveyoo.com/html/index.html>is
also a writer!

*David Yoo <http://www.daveyoo.com/html/index.html>* (STOP ME IF YOU'VE
HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE) is the author of the novels GIRLS FOR BREAKFAST,
which was named a NYPL Best Book for Teens and a Booksense Pick. He has
published fiction and nonfiction in several anthologies, most recently in
WHO CAN SAVE US NOW? (The Free Press, 2008) and GUYS WRITE FOR GUYS READ
(Viking). David teaches adult fiction workshops at the Gotham Writers
Workshop and writes a monthly column in Koream Journal.

-- 
Bill Howe
Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) - http://apaact.com/

13th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education (NECME)
October 8, 2008, Connecticut Convention Center - Hartford, Connecticut
http://www.necme.org