Acclaimed author Derrick Barnes will be a featured panelist at the National Black Writers Conference 2025 Biennial Symposium, an annual conference held at Medgar Evers College, City University of New York.
Barnes will take part in the "Expanding Voices in MG and YA Speculative Fiction" roundtable on Saturday, March 29, the Center for Black Literature announced.
The National Book Award finalist is best known for his 2022 graphic novel Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice, which won the 2023 YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award and received a Coretta Scott King Author Honor. His widely celebrated picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut earned a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers.
The Kansas City, Mo., native is the only author to win the Kirkus Prize twice, including for his 2020 bestseller I Am Every Good Thing. His additional works include The King of Kindergarten (2019) and The Queen of Kindergarten (2022), both of which became New York Times bestsellers.
Barnes will join authors Tracey Baptiste and Lamar Giles in the panel discussion, which will take place from 10:00am –11:30am. The roundtable will be moderated by Patrick Oliver of Say It Loud! Readers and Writers, LLC.
The conference this year, to be held between March 27 through March 29, specifically targets Young Adult and Middle Grade literature by Black authors, a genre that has expanded over the last two decades.
The symposium will feature a keynote conversation and the presentation of the National Black Writers Conference Nikki Giovanni Award on March 29. Jacqueline Woodson, an award-winning author, will present the honor to Tony Medina and Rita Williams-Garcia in recognition of their contributions to literature.
For information about program schedule and registration, click here.
