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The new season is almost here! We’re kicking things off with three incredible guests, exploring how storytelling can ignite compassion, curiosity, and the courage to challenge the harm we see.
March 2026
Author Derrick Barnes
Derrick Barnes is a Newbery Honor–winning, Coretta Scott King Award–honored, and Kirkus Prize–winning children’s author known for stories that celebrate identity, dignity, and imagination. His acclaimed books — including Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, I Am Every Good Thing, The King of Kindergarten, and The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze — center young people’s inner lives with warmth and honesty.
April 2026
Author Soraya Chelamy
Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning writer and author whose work examines male supremacy, patriarchy, and the social forces that shape how we express emotion, relate to others, and exercise power. Her newest book, All We Want Is Everything, along with her acclaimed earlier works, including Rage Becomes Her and The Resilience Myth, exposes how these systems of oppression harm us all and challenges readers to recognize and overthrow them.
May 2026
Author Jill Damatac
Jill Damatac is a journalist and author whose work examines culture, identity, and social justice through the lens of lived experience. Her newest book, Dirty Kitchen, draws on her experiences as an undocumented immigrant to reveal the harsh realities of a system that marginalizes and dehumanizes, telling a story full of honesty, humor, and resilience while showing what it takes to navigate life, work, and belonging under systemic oppression.
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