Utah Educational Library Media Association Annual State Conference

March 6, 2020

Weber State University Shepherd Union

3910 West Campus Drive Ogden, UT 84408

#ownvoices #weNeedDiverseBooks

Keynote Speakers & Authors

Ellen Oh is the co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, the groundbreaking, grassroots non-profit organization that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. She is also the author of the award-winning Spirit Hunters series for middle grade readers and the Prophecy trilogy (Prophecy, Warrior, and King) for young adults.

General Session Keynote

Publisher and speaker Karl Beckstrand is the bestselling and award-winning author & illustrator of 21 multicultural-multilingual books and more than 60 ebook titles. Since 2004 he has run Premio publishing focusing on multicultural YA fiction, e-book mysteries, nonfiction, biographies, Spanish language & bilingual picture books short stories, wordless books, Up-lit, and activity STEM books.

Lunch Keynote

Frank L. Cole was born into a family of southern storytellers and wrote his first book at age eight. Highly superstitious and gullible to a fault, Frank will believe in any creepy story you tell him, especially ones involving ghosts and Big Foot. Currently, along with his wife and three children, he resides in the shadow of a majestic western mountain range, which is most likely haunted. Potion Masters The Transparency Tonic is Frank’s 11th published book.

Local Author

Christian McKay-Heidicker


Christian McKay Heidicker reads and writes and drinks tea. Between his demon-hunting cat and his fiddling, red-headed fiancée, he feels completely protected from evil spirits. Christian is the author of Newbery Honor-winning Scary Stories for Young Foxes, the Thieves of Weirdwood, Cure for the Common Universe, and Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. Find out more at cmheidicker.com

Local Author