Speakers & Moderators

Aya de León (she/her/ella), the author of ten novels, teaches creative writing and climate justice at UC Berkeley. She is the acquiring editor for Fighting Chance Books, telling the story of how we can still save our planet. Aya’s work has appeared in various venues, including Harper’s Bazaar, Ebony, and Def Poetry, and she was recently interviewed in the New York Times. In spring 2022, she organized an online conference entitled Black Literature vs. the Climate Emergency (available on YouTube). In addition, she does climate organizing with the Black Hive, the climate justice formation at the Movement for Black Lives. Aya was named Berkeley’s new poet laureate in 2023.