Cultural Heartbeats: Adventures with Award-Winning Author Ismée Williams

Dr. Diane's Adventures in Learning

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Ismée Williams is the award-winning author of the young adult novels Water in May and This Train Is Being Held, which won an International Latino Book Award for Best Young Adult Romance, and a coeditor of the anthology Boundless: Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Identities.
Her debut picture book, Abuelo, the Sea, and Me, is available for pre-order now. Coming in May 2024, Abuelo, the Sea, and Me is a tender, heartwarming picture book that vividly explores intergenerational connections, family history, and the immigrant experience.
Ismée has been an invited speaker at The Virginia Festival of the Book, The Miami Book Fair, The NYC Teen Author Festival, The Southern Kentucky Book Festival, The Texas Book Fesival and The Bronx Book Festival among others. Ismée is a co-founder of the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival as well as a pediatric cardiologist in New York City where she lives with her family. She is the daughter of a Cuban immigrant and grew up listening to her abuelo’s bedtime stories. Follow her on X and IG @IsmeeWilliams and her website: ismeewilliams.com.
The Latinx KidLit Book Festival was created in 2020 during the COVID pandemic by members of Las Musas Books. Their aim was to connect Latinx authors and illustrators with readers and educators in classrooms around the globe. Since then, and with the help of countless volunteers, the festival has continued to foster a love of story and literacy as well as increase empathy and conversation among educators, students, and book lovers while uplifting the voices of Latinx kidlit book creators. https://www.latinxkidlitbookfestival.com/

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Chapter

1. Cultural Heartbeats: Adventures with Award-Winning Author Ismée Williams (00:00:00)

2. New Picture Book debuts in May (00:00:46)

3. How Cuban heritage influences her writing (00:01:40)

4. Adventures in Learning -- how did you become who you are today? (00:03:03)

5. Culture, Cardiology, and Diverse Children's Literature (00:06:13)

6. Latinx Kidlit Book Festival (00:08:26)

7. Growing the LatinX Kidlit Book Festival (00:13:18)

8. 16 at Heart and Favorite Books Growing Up (00:15:26)

9. The Power of Authors and A Recent WV School Visit with Dr. Diane (00:16:44)

10. What brings you hope (00:18:21)