New & Noted with Laurie Halse Anderson, Emily Carroll, and Hercilia Mendizabal Frers

Laurie Halse Anderson’s award-winning modern classic Speak is a timeless novel about consent and finding the courage to speak up for yourself.

It’s also a bestselling National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature with millions of copies sold. Speak has resonated with so many young adults that it now exists in graphic novel form (Speak: The Graphic Novel,) and is coming out in Spanish for the North American market for the first time this fall (Habla). Join Laurie, alongside Habla translator, Hercilia Mendizabal Frers, and illustrator of the award-winning graphic novel, Eisner Award winner Emily Carroll, for an event that discusses Speak in all of its forms and its incredible impact on literature, young readers, and beyond. This event will be moderated.

Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times-bestselling author known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity. Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists. Two more books, The Impossible Knife of Memory and Shout were long-listed for the National Book Awards. Laurie has been nominated for Sweden’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award seven times; this is her greatest honor. The American Library Association gave Laurie the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her significant contribution to young adult literature. She has been honored for her battles for intellectual freedom by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the National Council of Teachers of English. She is a member of RAINN’s National Leadership Council and frequently speaks about sexual violence.

Emily Carroll is the illustrator for the graphic novel adaptation of Speak. She is an award-winning comics writer and artist. Her debut collection, Through the Woods, won both the Eisner Award and the British Fantasy Award in 2014. Emily lives in Ontario, Canada with her wife and two dogs.

Hercilia Mendizabal Frers is the translator of Habla / Speak (Spanish Edition). She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has a B.A. from Georgetown and an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has worked as a freelance translator and copy editor with renowned publishing houses for the past fifteen years.