As literacy and language arts teachers, teacher educators, and researchers of our own and others’ lives, we continue to ask, “How can we be a light for each other?” And as this moment grows, we are invited to imagine a new, better story with bright spots and possible new sueños—new dreams—for ourselves, our students, and our communities.
NCTE is thrilled to bring the following voices to the #NCTE22 forefront as speakers. Collectively, they’ll lead us in our pursuit of knowledge and connection aligned to our theme, “¡Sueños! Pursuing the Light!”
Skip the line and order ahead titles of our speakers from the local bookseller, Arvida! These titles are available only for pickup at the Anaheim Convention Center during the 2022 NCTE speaker events, November 17-20.
Keynote Speakers
This year’s keynote speakers bring a range of perspectives to the mic—We’re thrilled to share this stellar lineup with you!

Javier Zamora
Opening General Session │ Thursday, November 17, 4:00–5:30 p.m. PT
Javier Zamora was born in El Salvador in 1990. His father fled the country when he was one, and his mother when he was about to turn five. Both parents’ migrations were caused by the US-funded Salvadoran Civil War. When he was nine, Javier migrated through Guatemala, Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert. His debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, explores the impact of the war and immigration on his family. Zamora has been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard and holds fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

Ibram X. Kendi
Friday General Session │ Friday, November 18, 8:00–9:15 a.m. PT
Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News correspondent. He is the author of many books, including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and five #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist; Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, coauthored with Jason Reynolds; and Antiracist Baby, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky. His latest books are How to Raise an Antiracist and Goodnight Racism, illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the “Genius Grant.”
The #1 New York Times bestseller that sparked international dialogue is now a book for young adults! Based on the adult bestseller by Ibram X. Kendi, and co-authored by bestselling author Nic Stone (see next), How to be a (Young) Antiracist will serve as a guide for teens seeking a way forward in acknowledging, identifying, and dismantling racism and injustice.

Nic Stone
Friday General Session │ Friday, November 18, 8:00–9:15 a.m. PT
Nic Stone is an Atlanta native and a Spelman College graduate. Her debut novel for young adults, Dear Martin, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Clean Getaway, the 2020 NPR Best Book of the Year selection Dear Justyce (a sequel to Dear Martin), the Rainbow Book List Top Ten selection Odd One Out, Jackpot, and Shuri: A Black Panther Novel. She is one of the authors in the New York Times bestselling book, Blackout, recently optioned as a new anthology program for Netflix by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground. Find her online at nicstone.info, @nicstone (Instagram), and @getnicced (Twitter).

Yuyi Morales
All-Attendee Event │ Friday, November 18, 6:45–8:30 p.m. PT
Join us for an uplifting evening led by author and artist, Yuyi Morales. In her most recent children’s picture book, Bright Star in English and Lucero in Spanish, one beautiful line reads: “No matter where you are, you are a bright star inside our hearts.” / “Dondequiera que estés, eres un lucero en nuestros corazones”. Let us gather under the theme’s lighthouse imagery to share in the joy and love of sharing our light with each other—teacher to teacher, NCTE member to NCTE member. Every attendee is invited to this event. NCTE provides food and beverages alongside programming that’s sure to be treasured for years to come. This is an excellent opportunity to meet new colleagues and to enjoy an evening with those treasured people already within your professional community.
Born in Xalapa, Mexico, where she currently resides, New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, Yuyi Morales, lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay area, where she still maintains close relations with booksellers and librarians. Professional storyteller, dancer, choreographer, puppeteer, and artist, she has won the prestigious Pura Belpré Award for Illustration six times, for Dreamers (2019), Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (2003), Los Gatos Black on Halloween (2006), Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book (2008), Niño Wrestles the World (2013), and Viva Frida (2014), also a Caldecott Honor Book. Her book Bright Star garnered a 2022 Pura Belpré Honor.

Seema Yasmin
Saturday General Session │ Saturday, November 19, 9:30–10:45 a.m. PT
Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, medical doctor, professor, and poet. She is the author of five books, including a poetry collection, If God Is a Virus, which was voted one of the Best Books of 2021 by The New York Public Library, and Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them, which tells her own history of growing up a conspiracy theorist before becoming a debunker of myths. In Muslim Women Are Everything: Stereotype-Shattering Stories of Courage, Inspiration, and Adventure (Harper Design), published in April 2020, Yasmin reframes how the world sees Muslim women, to reveal everything they CAN do and the incredible, stereotype-shattering ways they are doing it. She is also the author of What the Fact: Finding the Truth in All the Noise, a timely book about the importance of media literacy.
Yasmin is director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, clinical assistant professor in Stanford University’s Department of Medicine, and visiting assistant professor at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA where she teaches crisis management and crisis communications. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news in 2017 with a team from The Dallas Morning News for coverage of a mass shooting. After training in medicine at the University of Cambridge, Yasmin served as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she investigated outbreaks in prisons, hospitals, reservations, and other settings. She trained in journalism at the University of Toronto and worked as a staff writer at The Dallas Morning News covering Ebola’s arrival in Texas.

Andrea Wang
Sunday General Session │ Sunday, November 20, 12:00–1:30 p.m. PT
Andrea Wang is the award-winning author of Watercress, illustrated by Jason Chin, which Kirkus called “understated, deep, and heart rending” in a starred review. She is also the author of The Nian Monster and Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando as well as the forthcoming middle-grade novel, The Many Meanings of Meilan. Andrea holds an MS in Environmental Science and an MFA in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family.

Jason Chin
Sunday General Session │ Sunday, November 20, 12:00–1:30 p.m. PT
Jason Chin is a celebrated author and illustrator of children’s books. He received the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Andrea Wang’s Watercress, a Newbery Honor book and APALA award winner. His book Grand Canyon was awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Sibert Honor, and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award. His other acclaimed nonfiction titles—Coral Reefs, Redwoods, Gravity, and Island: A Story of the Galapagos—have received numerous starred reviews and other accolades. He is also the illustrator of Stephanie Parsley Ledyard’s debut title Pie Is for Sharing and Miranda Paul’s Water Is Water and Nine Months: Before a Baby Is Born, the latter a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. He lives in Vermont with his wife and children.
Meal Event Speakers
During the NCTE Convention ticketed meals are offered that also include talks by education luminaries and announcements of award winners in the various NCTE Sections and groups, including the Children’s Book Awards. Tickets to meal events can be purchased when registering for the Convention.

Ashley C. Ford
ELATE Luncheon │ Friday, November 18 │ 11:30 a.m.—1:30 p.m. PT

David Bowles
Middle Level Luncheon │ Friday, November 18 │ 11:30 a.m.—1:30 p.m. PT

Angeline Boulley
ALAN Breakfast │ Saturday, November 19 │ 7:00—9:15 a.m. PT
Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the US Department of Education. Her debut YA novel, Firekeeper's Daughter, is the winner of the 2022 Printz Award, Morris Award, Walter Award, and Edgar Award, and was selected as an American Indian Youth Literature Award Young Adult Honor Book. It was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, a Time magazine Best YA Book of All Time selection, and a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club YA pick. Firekeeper's Daughter is being adapted for Netflix by the Obamas' production company, Higher Ground. Angeline's second novel, Warrior Girl Unearthed, will be available on May 2, 2023.

Kaela Rivera
Children’s Book Awards Luncheon │ Saturday, November 19 │ 12:30—2:30 p.m. PT

Traci N. Todd
Children’s Book Awards Luncheon │ Saturday, November 19 │ 12:30—2:30 p.m. PT

Anna-Marie McLemore
Secondary Section Luncheon │ Saturday, November 19 │ 12:30—2:30 p.m. PT

Jerry Craft
Children’s Literature Assembly Breakfast │ Sunday, November 20 │ 7:00—8:45 a.m. PT

Shelley Rodrigo
Affiliate Breakfast │ Sunday, November 20 │ 7:00—8:45 a.m. PT
Shelley Rodrigo is the senior director of the writing program; associate professor in rhetoric, composition, and the teaching of English; and associate writing specialist (continuing status) in the Department of English at the University of Arizona. Shelley teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in writing, rhetoric, and film studies, and has coauthored three editions of The Wadsworth/Cengage Guide to Research and coedited Rhetorically Rethinking Usability (Hampton Press). Currently NCTE Vice President, Shelley also has served on the NCTE Executive Committee (EC) as the Chair of the College Section Steering Committee; the CCCC Executive Committee, both as an elected member and as Parliamentarian; TYCA-West’s EC as elected Chair and Treasurer; and on TYCA’s EC.

Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center
National Writing Project Brunch │ Sunday, November 20 │ 10:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m. PT
Join the National Writing Project for a Sunday morning celebration of teaching and writing. Poets from Kent State's Wick Poetry Center will lead us in conversation, writing, and poetry-making about the teachers and writers we are and strive to be.
Featured Speakers
Featured speakers present at designated sessions that address current issues in the field that reverberate through our classrooms.

Nellie Scott, "Corita Kent: With Love to the Everyday Miracle"
Featured Session │ Thursday, November 17 │ 9:30 a.m.—10:45 a.m. PT
Nellie Scott holds her degree in Art History from Portland State University and Szeged University in Hungary, focusing on Indigenous Art and Social Practice. With art accessibility as a pillar of all of her professional endeavors, Scott has spent the last decade developing exhibitions and art education initiatives geared toward democratizing art engagement. Prior to holding the position of Director at the Corita Art Center, she served as an independent consultant and art advisor for a variety of public and private foundations, institutions, artists, and estates. With an entrepreneurial spirit, Scott has a history of building nonprofits and businesses successfully to meet mission and service. She currently serves on the Board of Councilors for the University of Southern California Roski School of Art and Design.
Sponsored by the Corita Art Center, Los Angeles, CA

Reyna Grande, "Crossing Borders: The Journey to My Dreams"
Featured Session │ Friday, November 18 │ 11:00 a.m.—12:15 p.m. PT
When she immigrated to the US at the age of nine, Reyna Grande was made to feel ashamed about being a border crosser. Now, being a border crosser is her superpower. Grande will speak about the many borders, both physical and metaphorical, she had to cross to succeed in the US, from becoming the first in her family to go to university to having a successful writing career. By pursuing her sueños—her dreams—she went from being an undocumented immigrant living on the margins of society to an award-winning author of bestselling books such as The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home.
Sponsored by Simon & Schuster

Liz Jameyson, "Belong Here! Creating Welcoming and Nurturing Environments to Support Deep Learning for Migratory Students"
Featured Session │ Friday, November 18 │ 11:00 a.m.—12:15 p.m. PT
All students should feel like they belong in school. In this session, participants will consider the needs
of migratory students and explore three social-emotional components necessary for equity: agency,
belonging, and identity. Participants will engage in an interactive reading with a culturally relevant text and
discuss key takeaways.
Sponsored by WestEd

Leslie Hamburger and Guillermo Lopez, "Developing Language and Literacy in Mathematics for Long Term English Learners"
Featured Session │ Friday, November 18 │ 12:30 p.m.—1:45 p.m. PT
Long-term English Learners lack adequate opportunities to develop language and literacy in secondary
mathematics. The IES-funded RAMP-UP Math project engages students to develop conceptual
understandings about cross-cutting ideas, participation in disciplinary practices, and disciplinary literacy
and oracy. Educators will learn how to design language rich mathematics instruction for English Learners.
Sponsored by WestEd

Deb Benitez and Liz Jameyson, "Identity, Agency, and Belonging: Reconceptualizing Social Emotional Learning for Migratory Students"
Featured Session │ Saturday, November 19 │ 12:30 p.m.—1:45 a.m. PT
This session considers the unique social-emotional needs of migratory students and how
educators can develop student agency, identity, and sense of belonging. Participants will
consider how social-emotional practices mitigate barriers to achievement, and how a classroom
centered on equity can create a sense of community, acceptance, and affirmation.
Sponsored by WestEd

Mary Schmida, "Why, Now More Than Ever, Talk Is Key in the Development of Language and Literacy"
Featured Session │ Saturday, November 19 │ 4:15 p.m.—5:30 p.m. PT
English and multilingual learners must have instructional opportunities that engage them in
quality interactions. Well-structured learning that engages students in rigorous tasks, analytical
thinking, and generative discussions are essential for learning that promotes social well-being,
disciplinary knowledge, and language development. This session will explore how schools can
promote quality interactions.
Sponsored by WestEd

Annie Gervais, Carole LeCren, Frank Mata, Jennifer Silver, Gina Vattuone, Bill Younglove, "CATE: California's Statewide NCTE Affiliate and Its Nine Local Councils"
Featured Session │ Saturday, November 19 │ 4:15 p.m.—5:30 p.m. PT
In this presentation, board members from the California Association of Teacher of English
(CATE) will share the history of CATE and its work over the last 60+ years to keep English
language arts teachers involved in the issues and concerns they face in the classroom. From
the relationship of local-area councils to the implementation of an annual statewide convention, board members will share what they do in California for CATE members. A Q&A session
will include sharing advice with other state affiliates.
Sponsored by the California Association of Teachers of English