About this event

Shout Mouse Press, a literary youth non-profit, presents BooktoberFest, a booky celebration for all ages! Grow your brain and imagination with a book fair, a writing workshop, and a panel discussion on banned books. Hosted by literary youth non-profit Shout Mouse Press, BooktoberFest marks the beginning of Shout Mouse’s month-long Booktober campaign.

Book Fair
12:00 – 4:00 p.m. | AT&T Courtyard
Inspired by our favorite memories of school book fairs, you can shop youth-authored books and meet the young people who wrote them! Drop in to connect to other mission-driven literary organizations such as An Open Book, Teaching for Change, DC Books to Prisons, and Turning the Page.

Writing Workshop
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. | Classroom B (2nd floor)
Drop into the writing workshop, designed for those 8 years and older. Sasa Aakil, youth poet laureate, leads this workshop based on Shout Mouse’s identity-forward prompts.

Banned Books Panel
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. | Friedman Family Auditorium
The capstone of the afternoon will be a thoughtful panel discussion on banned books moderated by Glory Edim, (Well-Read Black Girl), to honor Banned Books Week.

Panelists include:
Keesha Ceran, Social Justice Books
K.C. Boyd, School Library Journal’s 2022 Librarian of the Year
Sasa Aakil, Shout Mouse Press author of I Am the Night Sky
T’Asia Bates, Shout Mouse Press author of The Day Tajon Got Shot and What It Cost Us