Panel: Reading the Past: Historical Fiction & Nonfiction with Leah Pileggi, Michael Leali, Sharon Flake, Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, and Alexandra Diaz

Moderated by Kathy Ayres | Children's & Young Adult Area | University of Pittsburgh Library System Kids Tent | 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM

After the presentation, the author will be signing books in the Stories Like Me tent.

Their books will be available at the bookstore in the Stories Like Me tent

Biographies

Leah Pileggi’s work has appeared in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Chautauquan Daily, The New York Times Magazine, Hopscotch Magazine, and SmartyPantsMagazineForKids.com. Awards for her middle-grade historical novel Prisoner 88 include IndieBound Kids’ Next List, NCTE Notable Book in the Language Arts, and the Charlie May Simon Honor Book for the State of Arkansas.

Michael Leali (he/him) is an award-winning writer and veteran educator. His debut novel, The Civil War of Amos Abernathy, won the Golden Kite Award in 2023 and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary award. He is also the author of Matteo (HarperCollins, 2023) and the forthcoming The Truth About Triangles (HarperCollins, 2024). Michael currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess grew up in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently she is a professor at Columbia University, studying how and why societies fall apart and what role education can play in rebuilding decimated countries. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed young adult memoir The Cat I Never Named.

Alexandra Diaz is the award-winning author of The Only Road, The Crossroads, Santiago’s Road Home, and Farewell Cuba, Mi Isla. The Only Road was a Pura Belpré Honor Book and won the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, as well as numerous other accolades. Santiago’s Road Home was an International Latino Book Award gold medalist and an ALA Notable Children’s Book. Farewell Cuba, Mi Isla was a Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year and the Children’s Book Council’s teacher's Favorite. Alexandra is the daughter of Cuban refugees and a native Spanish speaker. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but got her master’s in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University in England. Visit her at Alexandra-Diaz.com.