Alan Gratz to join panel speaking about supporting refugees on Oct. 30 at WWU

New York Times Bestselling Young Adult author Alan Gratz will join a panel exploring the question “What does it mean to support refugees?” at Western Washington University from 4-5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at the Western Gallery in the Fine Arts Building.

This collaborative dialogue event, co-sponsored by the Teaching-Learning Academy and the Western Gallery, will include an observed fishbowl dialogue among the speakers, followed by small group dialogue among participants.

The event is free and open to the public.

Gratz is the author of "Refugee," a historical fiction novel that follows the life and separate stories of three refugee children. Gratz brings to the panel his expertise on communicating difficult stories to young adult audiences.  He will be joined by Desiree Cueto and David Schlitt.

Desiree Cueto is an assistant professor of Elementary Education at Western and director of the Pacific Northwest Children’s Literature Clearinghouse. She will share her expertise on Young Adult Literature and the academic background that motivates its practitioners. David Schlitt is the Visiting Yiddish Instructor and Judaica Project Archivist for Western Libraries Heritage Resources. Prior to coming to Western, he directed the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For more information about this event, please contact Nathan Romond at Nathan.Romond@wwu.edu, (360) 650-3740.