Friday, March 6 8:15 a.m.

Ellen Oh is co-founder, president and CEO of We Need Diverse Books, the groundbreaking, grassroots non-profit organization that aims to help produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.

Ellen is the author of the Texas Bluebonnet Award nominated middle grade novel Spirit Hunters and its sequel, The Island of Monsters, as well as the highly-acclaimed, young-adult Prophecy trilogy. It was a 2000 article in Time magazine about Genghis Khan that jump started Ellen’s writing career and ignited her obsessive fascination with ancient Asian history, especially Korean history.

Ellen loves martial arts films, adores K-pop, thinks Avatar: The Last Airbender series is the best animated show ever created, randomly quotes lines from The Princess Bride, and knows that Krispy Kreme doughnuts are her kryptonite.

Friday, March 6 12:00 p.m.

International Book Award winner Karl Beckstrand is a twenty-two-time published author with more than 60 ebook titles. He has a B.A. in journalism from BYU, an M.A. in international relations from APU, and a broadcast & film certificate from Film A. Academy.

Mr. Beckstrand has worked with people from all continents (except Antarctica) and is passionate about literacy and using the arts to give people of all backgrounds a vision of their worth and potential. He has lived in South America (Chile), been a Spanish-English interpreter, and is learning German. He has visited Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Spain, Canada, Bulgaria, Mexico, France, Peru, and the Czech Republic. His ancestors hail from South Africa, Sweden, Scotland, Switzerland, France, England, and Ireland (there may be some American Indian in the mix).

Since 2004 he has run Premio Publishing. A college media instructor, Beckstrand contrasts traditional with digital publishing. He has presented to Taiwan’s Global Leadership for Youth, city and state governments, libraries, festivals, and schools. He has lived abroad and enjoys volleyball and kayaking(usually not at the same time). Beckstrand's nationally lauded ebook mysteries, nonfiction, Spanish/bilingual kid’sbooks, YA stories, and wordless books feature ethnically diverse characters—and usually end with a twist.