INVITED FICTION READINGS/KEYNOTES/PRESENTATIONS/
NATIONAL BOOK & MEDIA TOURS:
I’ve given hundreds of talks for schools, libraries, conferences, and during multiple-city media tours for each of my books. Classroom zooms Missouri, New York, Illinois, Texas, South and North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, Vermont, Oregon, California, Nebraska, Arizona, ecetera. Highlights include:
Neev Literary Festival, Bangalore, India
9/11 graphic novel launch for Lauren Tarshis I Survived: The Attacks of September 11, 2001
Over 20 skypes, girl scout, community, etc.
BYU Symposium on Books for Young Readers,
WSCSS – K-8 Ghost Boys to Black Brother, Black Brother: Racism, Bias, & Colorism" -
February 2021
National African American Read-In Day, Feb. 2021 (K-12 students across Dallas Independent School District with Follett and Dallas Independent School District
Shoreline Public Schools – Ghost Boys and Ninth Ward Read-In (January 2021)
Children’s Lit Festival, University of Central Missouri. March 2021
Frank F. Islam Athenaeum Presentation Montgomery College, 2021
Festival of Words, Delaware, 2021 Panelist and Presentation
National African American Read In Dallas & Follett, 2021 Ghost Boys to BBBBN: Racism, Bias, and Colorism
Elevating Voices with the Teacher Kickoff Event scheduled for Ghost Boys for Wednesday (January 27th) at 4 pm EST. NY CITY wide GB Study fro m Teaching Matters
NCTE - Topic: Why Middle Matters -- A Convergence of Texts: The Middle Level Mosaic , 2020
VSLA 2021 Conference in March!
BYU Symposium on Books for Young Readers Feb 2021
Yaddo Presents: Words Have Power: Inspiring Equity, environmental justice, and joy with Dr. JPR and Shay Youngblood
“Imagining Douglass” – A conversation with author Colum McCann and Jewell Parker Rhodes, including readings from McCann’s novel Transatlantic and Parker Rhodes’ novel Douglass’s Women (chaired by Dr Chanté Mouton Kinyon (University of Notre Dame)) 2021
Hachette Book Group and Project Lit 2020
SoftBank Investments, Diversity Keynote, 2020
Shoreline Public School, community read Ninth Ward & Ghost Boys
Featured Speaker, Teaching Matters, NYC-wide teaching of GHOST BOYS2020
Featured Speaker, Euclid Public Library, September 2020
Featured Speaker, Langley School, April 2020
First Reads, Chicago Public Library
Panelist, Atlanta Anti-Racism Virtual Town Hall, ABC/NBC tv special, September 2020
Featured Speaker, Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures Reading Authors, 2019
Speakers, OCMBS Syracuse, NY, 2019
Panelist, Charlotte Huck Awardee, NCTE
Keynotes Michigan 2019 for Kalamazoo Public Library and KPL Youth Literature Seminar sponsored by Kansas Public Schools; (Kalamazoo School Visits, including Women’s Juvenile Detention Center)
Belfair Montessori Magnet School, Baton Rouge, La. 2019
Panelist, NCTE, Houston 2018, “Brave Conversations: Empowering Student Voice in the Real World;” “Using Diverse Literature to Build Empathy and Awareness in Middle Schoolers,” and “Magic City: Writing Fiction to Unearth the Silenced Voices of the Tulsa Race Riots”
Michigan Association of Media Educators, Keynote, 2018
UK Book Tour, including Bath School Festival visits, Ilkey Literary Festival and panel on diversity and reality in Middle Grade literature, Ilkey School Visits in Leeds, p Henley Literary Festival panel, “The Power of Writing”
Featured Author, National Book Festival, Washington, D.C., 2018
Panelist, “Putting Books to Work,” (2 workshop sessions), International Literacy Association (ILA) Austin, Texas, 2018
Keynote….., Jackson Hole Writers Conference, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 2018
Texas/IDEA, week of visits to Texas IDEA schools (Brownsville, San Antonio, Austin, Brownsville, etc.), May 2018
“Authors in April,” week tour of local elementary and middle schools, Rochester, Michigan, April 2018
Panelist, “Ripped from the Headlines,” & “Crossing Borders.” Tucson Festival of Books, Tucson, Arizona, 2018
National Book Tour, Atlanta, D.C., Boston, St. Louis, St. Paul, Portland, Seattle, April 2018
Panelist, “Equity and Inclusion in Children’s Literature,” ILA West, Los Angeles, 2018
Keynote Speaker, Middle Grade Luncheon, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), St. Louis, Mo., 2017
Panelist, “Recapturing Voices of Social Justice: Two Novels for Intermediate/Middle Graders,”
Moderator, Dr. Ann Neely, NCTE, 2017
Panelist, “Speaking Out in a Culture of Silence,” ALAN, St. Louis, Mo. 2017
moderator, Dr. Ebony Thomas, 2017
Alachua County Library, Gainsville, Florida, Multi-School and Library Visits, 2017
Keynote Speaker for Scholastic Reading Summits in Raleigh, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. “Bearing Witness to the Power of Reading,” 2017
Keynote, NCTE Whole Language Summer Institute, Arizona, "Creating Empathy, Diversity One Character, One Book at a Time," 2017
Keynote, Shenandoah University Children’s Literature Conference, “Reading And Writing Diversity,” 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGy9eK5rOTI
Bookmarks Festival, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Featured Author, 2016
Scholastic Reading Club Annual “Our Favorite Authors Talk About Their Favorite Teacher” Breakfast, International Literacy Association Conference, St. Louis, Mo., 2015
“Self-love and Creative Narratives,” University Career Women Keynote, 2015
“Diversity and Character-Driven Fiction,” Children’s Institute, American Booksellers Association, Pasadena, California, 2015
Panelist/presenter, “Getting Beyond Diversity and Getting to the Story,” Kidlitosphere Annual Conference, Sacramento, California, 2014
Voodoo Dreams, Reading & Q & A, the Financial Times/Oxford Literary Festival, England, 2014
Keynote Address, Creative Arts Seminar, “Winnowing Memories: Childhood, Elders, and Oral Tales,” National University of Singapore/Ministry of Education, 2011
“Katrina’s Children: Moving Beyond the Storm Together,” co-panelist with Shadra Strickland, Southern Festival for Books, Nashville, Tennessee, 2010
Speculative Fiction: Fantasy, Horror and the Supernatural in the Literature of Black Writers, 2010 National Black Writers Conference, Medgar Evers College, CUNY, NY
Reading, Aberystwyth University, Department of English and Creative Writing, Aberystwyth, Wales, 2009
Reading, Ninth Ward, Literary Showcase, featured book, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Yale Club, 2009
Featured Author, “Morning Read” panel, “A Conversation with Jewell Parker Rhodes (interviewer: Chandani Lokuge)” and Workshop Seminar on “Writing Thrillers and Mysteries,” Melbourne Literary Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2009
Reading, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada, 2009
Reading, “African American Literary Cavalcade,” Ohio State University, Ohio, 2007
Keynote Reading with Ruby Dee, Up South: International Writers of the Diaspora Conference, New York, NY, 2009
Keynote Reading, National Black McDonald’s Owners Association, Nassau, Bahamas, 2007
“Douglass’s Women: History and Imagination,” Reading Circle for Visiting Sichuan University Faculty, ASU Center for American & Cultural Studies, 2007
Keynote Reading, Runnymeade International Literary Conference, University of London: Royal Holloway, England, 2006
Moderator & Panelist, “Crossing Borders: Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction,” 412 Festival, University of Pittsburgh, 2005
Reading, “Celebration of Southwestern Writers,” Warwick University, Surrey, England, 2004
