Closing Keynote with Rex Ogle and Mark Oshiro: Queer Stories For Community

Rex Ogle and Mark Oshiro are inspirational authors of young people’s literature writing about queer adolescents overcoming real-life and fantastical obstacles. Both depict examples of acts of heroism, community-building, trust, generosity, reciprocity, and queer culture. During these unprecedented times of book bannings and challenges predominantly impacting the LGBTQIA2S+ community, young readers deserve (and need!) stories that illustrate what it is to be in community for transcendence. It is the commitment of booksellers to share queer stories that cultivate a culture of caring, and empathy all the while uplifting LGBTQIA2S+ authors and readers that expands their unique position of stewards of storytelling.

Rex Ogle is the author of Free Lunch, which won the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award; Abuela, Don’t Forget Me, a finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award; and Punching Bag, a NYPL Best Book of the Year.

Mark Oshiro is the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning Latinx queer author of Anger Is a Gift, Each of Us a Desert, and Into the Light, as well as several middle-grade books and co-author (with Rick Riordan) of The Sun and the Star.

Kai Burner (he/they) has been a proud member of the book industry since 2016. He is currently the Assistant Manager and Children’s/Gift Buyer at the Bookworm of Edwards, serves on ABA’s Bookseller Advisory Council and Children’s Council, and is a board member of their local pride organization, Mountain Pride.