Ellen Oh | |
|---|---|
 Ellen Oh reading at 2023 Gaithersburg Book Festival | |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Website | |
| ellenoh | |
Ellen Oh (née Ha) is a Korean-American author, and founding member and CEO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. [1] [2] She is the author of young adult and middle grade novels including the Prophecy trilogy, also known as the Dragon King Chronicles, a series of fantasy, young adult novels based on Korean folklore. [3]
Oh grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She attended New York University and Georgetown University, graduating with a legal degree. [3] She began to write seriously after she had children, prompted by her struggle to find books that included representation for her kids. [4] [3]
Prophecy, the first book in Oh's young adult fantasy series, was published in January 2013. [3] The series, known both as the Prophecy trilogy and the Dragon King Chronicles, draws from Korean folklore. [1]
In 2014, BookCon announced an all-white line-up for the event and hosted a children's book author panel consisting of all-white, all-male participants. [5] [6] In response, Ellen Oh and others in the industry created a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. [5] The campaign, launched on May 1, 2014, gained 106 million Twitter impressions in the first 24 hours. The organization We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) was incorporated in the summer of 2014. For her work, Oh was named one of Publishers Weekly's Notable People in 2014. [1] As of 2020, she is currently the president of WNDB. [1] [7]
In 2016, Oh was a judge for the National Book Awards in the young people’s literature category. [8]
Oh's book, Spirit Hunters, was started after her daughter was hospitalized due to depression. The first scene she wrote for the book was influenced by the hospital room and, according to Oh, based on "that feeling of depression and horror and sadness and fear that I was feeling and that I know my kid was feeling." The book follows a young child, Harper, and her family as they move into a seemingly haunted house. [4] The story was influenced by Korean Shamanism, and was published in 2017. [4] [9]
In 2020, Oh, Christina Soontornvat and Melanie Conklin created the Everywhere Book Fest, due to COVID-19 cancelling in-person book festivals. It was held online May 1 and 2, 2020, focusing on children's literature with 43,000 viewers attending. [10] [11]
Carole Boston Weatherford is an American author and critic. She has published over 50 children's books, primarily non-fiction and poetry. The music of poetry has fascinated Weatherford and motivated her literary career. She has won multiple awards for her books, including the 2022 Coretta Scott King Award for Author for her book Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre. As a critic, she is best known for her controversial criticism of Pokémon character Jynx and Dragon Ball character Mr. Popo.
Warriors is a series of novels based on the adventures and drama of multiple Clans of feral cats. The series is primarily set in fictional forests. Published by HarperCollins, the series is written by authors Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry, as well as others, under the collective pseudonym Erin Hunter. The concept and plot of the pilot series were developed by series editor, Victoria Holmes.
The Halfblood Chronicles is a series of four fantasy books written by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey. The series is set in a mystical world of elves, wizards and dragons. The series is released by Tor Books, and comprises Elvenbane (1991), Elvenblood (1995), Elvenborn (2002), and Elvenbred. Elvenbred, the fourth book in the series, has not yet been released. Due to the death of co-author Andre Norton it is stated that the series 4th book has been handed over to Mercedes Lackey, and has yet to be published as of December 2022.
Erin Hunter is a collective pseudonym used by the authors Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Clarissa Hutton, Inbali Iserles, Tui T. Sutherland, and Rosie Best in the writing of several children's fantasy novel series which focus on animals and their adventures. Notable works include the Warriors, Seekers, Survivors, Bravelands, and Bamboo Kingdom book series. For each book, Holmes creates the plot and the others take turns writing the books. Dan Jolley, though not an official Erin Hunter author, also writes the stories for manga published under the Hunter name. James L. Barry, Bettina M. Kurkoski, and Don Hudson are included under the pseudonym as the illustrators of the Warriors mangas. Natalie Riess and Sara Goetter are also included as the illustrators of the graphic novel adaptation of The Prophecies Begin.
Into the Wild is a fantasy novel about the lives of fictional cats, written by a team of authors using the pseudonym Erin Hunter. The novel was published by HarperCollins in Canada and the United States in January 2003, and in the United Kingdom in February 2003. It is the first novel in the Warriors series. The book has been published in paperback and e-book formats in twenty different languages. The story is about a young domestic cat named Rusty who leaves his human owners to join a group of forest-dwelling feral cats called ThunderClan, adopting a new name: Firepaw. He is trained to defend and hunt for the clan, becomes embroiled in a murder and betrayal within the clan, and, at the end of the book, receives his warrior name, Fireheart, after a battle with another clan. The novel is written from the perspective of Fireheart.
Tui Tamara Sutherland is an American children's book author who has written more than 60 books under her own name and under several pen names. In 2009, she won $46,200 over three games on Jeopardy! She is best known for writing the Wings of Fire series of epic dragon fantasy novels. Sutherland's books have sold over 15 million copies.
Kristin F. Cast is an American author of young adult books and graphic novels, best known for the House of Night series and Sisters of Salem series, written with her mother, P. C. Cast.
Malinda Lo is an American writer of young adult novels including Ash, Huntress, Adaptation, Inheritance,A Line in the Dark, and Last Night at the Telegraph Club. She also does research on diversity in young adult literature and publishing.
We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) is a nonprofit organization created to promote diversity of multiple forms in American children's literature and publishing, which grew out of the Twitter hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks in 2014. The organization's programming includes funding grants and internships for diverse authors and people interested in publishing, a mentorship program, providing lists of book recommendations for librarians, teachers, and parents on finding books with characters from marginalized backgrounds, and publishing an anthology of short stories featuring multiple authors from diverse backgrounds.
Angie Thomas is an American young adult author, best known for writing The Hate U Give (2017). Her second young adult novel, On the Come Up, was released on February 25, 2019.
Meredith Russo is an American young adult author from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
All American Boys, published in 2015 by Atheneum, is a young adult novel written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. The book tells the story of two teenage boys, Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins, as they handle racism and police brutality in their community. The novel has gained attention in recent years, becoming the 26th most banned book of 2022, due to its inclusion of anti-police messages, alcohol, drug usage, and profanity.
Young adult fiction and children's literature in general have historically shown a lack of diversity, that is, a lack of books with a main character who is, for example, a person of color, from the LGBTQIA+ community, or disabled. The numbers of children's book authors have shown a similar lack of diversity. In the mid-2010s, more attention was drawn to this problem from various quarters. In the several years following, diversity numbers seem to have improved: One survey showed that in 2017, a quarter of children's books were about minority protagonists, almost a 10 percent increase from 2016.
Brigid Kemmerer is an American author of young adult fiction.
Eva Lindström is a Swedish illustrator and author. Her work is known for its humorous and dark style.
Dragon Pearl is a middle grade novel written by Yoon Ha Lee and published on January 15, 2019, by Disney Hyperion under their "Rick Riordan Presents" publishing imprint. The book is a mix of Korean mythology and science fiction as the main character travels the galaxy. A short story by Lee about the characters in the book was featured in the anthology book The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities.
Christina Soontornvat is an American author, educator, and mechanical engineer. She won two Newbery Honors in 2021 for the children's books A Wish in the Dark and All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team, and another Newbery Honor in 2023 for the middle grade novel "The Last Mapmaker".
The Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature, known as "The Walters,” was created by the American nonprofit We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) in 2014, and the inaugural award was presented in 2016. Named after young adult author Walter Dean Myers, the award recognizes published, diverse authors who champion marginalized voices in their stories. The awards program is managed by WNDB's co-directors Kathie Weinberg and Terry Hong. In 2018, WNDB changed the categories from a single category of young adult titles to two categories of teen and young readers. Subsequent awards include both categories.
X: A Novel is a young adult novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon, published January 6, 2015 by Candlewick Press.
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