I was so delighted and honored to be a keynote speaker for an event sponsored by Friends of the Library, Montgomery County (FOLMC) - Mosaic: Celebrating Diversity Through Creative Writing contest. “FOLMC sponsor’s this contest in conjunction with the Montgomery County Public School System. Mosaic is for middle school students and is designed to get them thinking and writing about their cultural heritage and to help foster an appreciation for their own and others unique cultural backgrounds. Students may submit works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and spoken word and their winning works are compiled into a book that FOLMC publishes.”  I had the honor of writing the Foreword for the wonderful book that includes all the winning stories. 

The kids who read their pieces really blew me away — a young girls ponders wearing her headscarf to middle school, another young lady contemplates the angst of having to “tick a box” on a form indicating if she is American or African American. Touching pieces… and I have to say very well done.

Here are some photos from the lovely event - 

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