Watch Us Rise authors in discussion at The New School
“…We were both trying to write not only what is, [but] what can be…so educators can see what it looks like to create space in their schools for young people to share their voices.” – Renée Watson in conversation with Kirkus Reviews (kirkusreviews.com)
On Tuesday, April 30, 2019, Newbery Honor recipient, Coretta Scott King Award winner, and New School alum, Renée Watson, and performer, poet, and writer, Ellen Hagan, will be discussing their new book Watch Us Rise, a coming-of-age novel about young feminists in New York City that features women of color. The event is hosted by the Creative Writing program as a Writing for Children and Young Adults Forum.
Both Watson and Hagan are engaged in many works of activism. Watson launched the I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit committed to fostering underrepresented voices in the arts, in 2016 and states that one of her passions is “using the arts to help youth cope with trauma and discuss social issues” (reneewatson.net). Hagan co-founded the girlstory collective and is currently the director of the poetry and theater departments at the DreamYard Project in the Bronx, N.Y., overseeing the International Poetry Exchange program. Both of these women are incredible writers, performers, artists, and activists and this discussion is sure to be a can’t-miss event.
Writing for Children and Young Adults Forum: Renee Watson & Ellen Hagan
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Starr Foundation Hall, University Center
63 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY