Panels

Panels should be about passion and curiosity– for both the audience and the participants. There’s nothing better than an engaging conversation between creative minds. No matter the topic– writing, history, ecology, space exploration, and more– I bring a fun, lively perspective to panels that keeps the conversation going long after the event has ended. With 20 years of professional storytelling experience and a background in animation, comics, film and business, I’m entertaining and thoughtful as both a panelist and a moderator.

Need a Panelist?

Upcoming Panels

• “Surfing the Green Wave: Engaging Environmental & Social Issues for Young Readers,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Portland, OR

• “Companioning Loss: The Role of Children’s Books in Difficult Times,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Portland, OR

• “Beyond Rosie the Riveter: How Female Heroines are Revolutionizing World War II Fiction,” Historical Novel Society North American Conference, Oxon Hill, MD

• “Must We Always Sing the Blues? Missing Chapters from the African American Experience,” (Moderator), Historical Novel Society North American Conference, Oxon Hill, MD

Past Panel Topics

2018

• “Dark Childhood Worlds,” YALLWEST, Santa Monica, CA

• “Middle Grade Truth or Dare,”  YALLWEST, Santa Monica, CA

• “Thrillers,” YALLWEST, Santa Monica, CA

• “The 4th Annual YALLWEST Smackdown,” Santa Monica, CA

2017

• “Harnessing the Apocalypse,” Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies Earth Day Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI 

2016

• “Social Justice in Speculative and Fantastical Fiction for Young Readers,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Los Angeles, CA

• “Brave New Worlds: Writing Science in YA Fiction,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Los Angeles, CA

• “You Can’t Write That:  The Curious Case of Bias in YA Lit,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Los Angeles, CA

• “Science Fiction/Future Now,” San Diego Comic Con

• “Hard Truths,” YALLWEST, Santa Monica, CA

• “History is So Not Boring,” YALLWEST, Santa Monica, CA

Need a Moderator?

Panels I’ve Moderated

• “In Conversation with Carrie Arcos,” Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena, CA (2018)

• “Capturing the Imagination of Middle Grade Readers,” San Diego Comic Con (2016)

• “In Conversation with Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Robert Friend, ” Pioneers in Flight:  Breaking Barriers Exhibit, Ontario Museum of History and Art (2015)

Have you ever witnessed a panel where it was clear the moderator had not done their homework? Good questions make for good panels. Curiosity and diligence make for a good moderator. I promise to ask thoughtful, interesting questions, to be the voice of the audience so that they—and the panelists—come away with new, engaging ideas.

Places I’ve Moderated