No matter who you are, how you identify, where you live, what your abilities/disabilities are, whom you love, and what you look like, we want you here. Welcome!
In our mission to support the creation and availability of quality children’s books in every region of the world, we recognize that those books must reflect the rich diversity of our human family. The only way to do that is to support writers, illustrators, and translators that reflect every lived experience. As a global organization, we acknowledge that inclusion looks different in every corner of the world and invite you to share what “Inclusion Plus” looks like for your region and how we can better fold that into our toolkit.
Whether you are an SCBWI member; thinking about joining our community; or just here to see what we do, we would like you to know that Equity & Inclusion (EI) is an integral part of who we are, woven into every chapter of our story. Like many organizations, we find ourselves at a crossroads of how to keep improving our inclusion efforts and best share that message with you. In the past we kept our partnerships, contributions, support, and EI efforts as internal documents and hoped our goodwill would speak for itself. Transparency has evolved as a value of ours. We consider this space to be a living document, up for regular review, improvement, and sharing.
To quote Cornelius Minor, educator and literacy reform advocate (@MisterMinor), we are also “radically pro-kid”, which means championing content that supports all children and all families. If you find that equity, inclusion, belonging, civility, anti-racism, accessibility, interculturalism, religious tolerance, and understanding are not your values, then we are probably not the right organization for you. And we are okay with that. We believe that the bookshelf keeps expanding with our human family. There is room for us all. We are here to support you, cheer you on, and provide the best resources to write, draw, create, publish, and/or translate your work. We welcome you to a place of creativity and belonging and invite you to explore our EI Resource Library, values, anti-harassment, goals, teams, activities, and Custom Creative Communities for creators just like you, yes, YOU.
If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback, please email SCBWI NV team: EandINV@gmail.com
SCBWI Nevada’s Equity and Inclusion Team:
Michael Harley – Michael is a retired attorney living in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am a writer of color who enjoys reading historical fiction and writing children’s stories. I am a member of the Nevada Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and a local SCBWI critique group.
Ken Lamug – Ken is an award-winning professional dabbler. He was born in the Philippines and moved to the US with his entire family during his teenage years. Currently, he enjoys his life as an author/illustrator of picture books and graphic novels for middle-graders to middle-agers.
In his past life he was a beekeeper, race car driver, filmmaker and chicken herder. He currently lives in Las Vegas (although he doesn’t gamble) where he spends time with his family and two dogs.
He also teaches graphic novels for Storyteller’s Academy and a team member of #KidLitGN Pitch event. Ken is represented by Andrea Cascardi of Transatlantic Agency
David McMullin – David McMullin is a picture book writer, and children’s poet. His poems have been featured with Cricket Media, and in several anthologies. He was awarded honorable mention for the 2020 Ann Paul Whitford Award, and won a Writing with the Stars mentorship. In former lives he was a Broadway actor, educator, and children’s librarian. His passions include travel (70 countries so far) and nature (total bird nerd). David lives with his husband in Henderson, Nevada and is a proponent of LGBTQ equity.
Cynthia Mun – Cynthia is the Regional Advisor for SCBWI NV. Cynthia is a Korean immigrant who grew up in Los Angeles’s inner city. She graduated from Yale University and spent 25 years as a strategic marketer and executive at various Silicon Valley companies and in hospitality in Las Vegas. She serves as Vice-Chair and Commissioner on the NV Tourism Board. She writes MG and YA and lives in Las Vegas with her family.
Axie Oh – Axie Oh is a graduate of the University of California-San Diego where she studied Korean history and creative writing. Her debut novel, REBEL SEOUL, was released Fall 2017 from Tu Books with a companion novel titled ROGUE HEART (Tu Books). She received her MFA from Lesley University in Writing for Young People. Her obsessions include: her dog, Toro, stationery supplies and milk tea. She is represented by Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Her next two novels are XOXO, out summer 2021with HarperTeen, and THE GIRL WHO FELL BENEATH THE SEA, out winter 2022 with Feiwel and Friends. Find her online: Twitter | Website
Stephanie Espinoza Villamor – Stephanie is a librarian/writer/mom who moved to the Las Vegas area when she was six weeks old. She has a Master’s in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University and is currently an eLearning Librarian at the College of Southern Nevada. Stephanie writes stories inspired by her supportive family and Hispanic heritage, especially for middle grade and young adult readers. Her stories have appeared in local magazines and anthologies, and her short story “Artificial” won the Insecure Writer’s Support Group contest in 2020 to be published in the collection Dark Matter: Artificial (May 2021, Dancing Lemur Press). Stephanie lives with her husband and young son in Henderson, Nevada.
Theri Wyckoff – Theri is primarily interested in middle grade and YA multicultural, antiracist, and disability-positive literature. She enjoys critiquing her writing groups’ stories and books, and writes her own stories based on 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher in schools serving historically underrepresented populations. She teaches Valuing Cultural Diversity at the College of Southern Nevada and has presented locally and nationally on the diversity in Harry Potter. Theri must often use assistive devices such as a wheelchair or walker due to a severe back injury and arthritis. For the past 20 years, Theri and her husband have called Las Vegas home.
Please visit the main Equity and Inclusion page on the main SCBWI site: https://www.scbwi.org/equity-and-inclusion/