2025 Children's Book Changemakers Special

Join us on Tuesday, May 27th at 4pm PT / 7pm ET!

This incredible yearly live Zoom special is free and open to all (no SCBWI membership required) and features appearances from iconic children’s book thought leaders whose work has made a difference.

Of the special, SCBWI founder Lin Oliver says, “The children’s book community is bright, passionate, and full of hope. The stunning program that we’ve put together reflects the very best of us. It will not only educate you on the life-changing power of children’s books but will inspire you to take action in your own way to help solve today’s most pressing challenges. Each of us through our contributions in the children’s book field can make a difference. See you there!”

This year’s lineup includes:

• Maulik Pancholy. Maulik is an award-winning author, anti-censorship activist, and actor (you might recognize him from NBC’s 30 Rock, and from his wonderful middle-grade novels). For the 2025 Changemakers Special, Lin Oliver sits down with Maulik to discuss writing as an act of empathy and why representation matters.
• Ann and Ben Brashares are a brother and sister writing duo (Ann wrote the ever-popular Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series) who have embarked on a new journey: writing an alternate series of history novels for young adults, focusing on the impact of World War II. For this special, they’ll dive into how understanding history helps kids understand the present, and how children’s books bridge the gap between entertainment and social change.
• Winsome Bingham is the award-winning author of Soul Food Sunday, among many other wonderful children’s books. Join Winsome at home as she hosts a dinner party for some of her friends, and demonstrates one of her secret recipes.
• The National Coalition Against Censorship Student Advocates for Speech program brings us another year of inspiring, forward-thinking high school student activists. This year, students were mentored writers and children’s book professionals as they crafted creative projects exploring their personal relationship to challenged literature. For the Special, we’ll hear from a few of these remarkable young people.
• Linda Williams Jackson, an award winning writer of historical fiction such as Midnight Without a Moon and The Lucky Ones, will do a beautiful reading from her own work. 
• SCBWI ILF Award Winners, and the announcement of the 2025 winner of the Charlotte and Wilbur Award for Compassion for Animals.

We’ll also be raffling off some of our speakers’ wonderful books:

• Best at It by Maulik Pancholy
• Westfallen by Ann and Ben Brashares
• Soul Food Sunday by Winsome Bingham
• Coming Home: A Hopi Story by Mavasta Honyouti

The program will run for about 70 minutes on Tuesday, May 27th. We hope to see you there for this thought-provoking, vibrant program!

Register today!