SCBWI Arizona

Equity & Inclusion Team

Welcome to our SCBWI AZ EI Team Page

At SCBWI, we recognize that publicly committing to equity and inclusion is crucial to our membership and the readers we serve. Words, stories, and images are powerful: They define who we are for ourselves and for others. Historically, content creation that reaches a wide audience of children and teens has been intertwined with a legacy of privilege, oppression, bias, and racism. We acknowledge that, as part of the children’s publishing industry, we share in that legacy.

You can find our complete Equity and Inclusion Statement here: SCBWI Equity and Inclusion Statement

Our Mission

Support the creation and availability of quality books for every young reader championing equity and inclusion.

Our Goals

– Expand inclusivity in our membership and create a welcoming and safe environment for all members.

– Provide learning opportunities to increase social consciousness.

– Increase inclusive programming, events, and community outreach.

Meet our E&I Team

As we are building our Regional Equity & Inclusion Team, we are thrilled to introduce you to our two Co-Leaders.

Cynthia Harmony

Cynthia Harmony is an educational psychologist originally from Mexico City.
She’s a translator member of The American Literary Translators Association and was awarded the 2020 We Need Diverse Books PB Mentorship.
She co-hosts the annual Twitter event LatinxPitch and as part of the Arizona SCBWI E&I Team she is looking to continue to support underrepresented voices in Kidlit. More at:
www.cynthiaharmony.com

Fawzia Tung

Fawzia Mai Tung, the daughter of a diplomat, grew up around the globe, receiving her education in 13 different schools in five countries and four languages.
Now a retired journalist, psychiatrist and educator, as well as a mother of seven and grandmother of 7, Fawzia writes stories drawn from her experience and background. She is very interested in the growing movement of Equity and Inclusion and has been a member of SCBWI since 2017.

Resources:

Sticks and Stones and the Stories We Tell – As part of SCBWI’s Equity and Inclusion Initiative, the Sticks and Stones and the Stories We Tell video is available free to members and the general public and focuses on how ten BIPOC creators turned racism into art.

Access the video here: Sticks and Stones and the Stories We Tell Digital Workshop

Events:

– LatinX KidLit Book Festival – https://www.latinxkidlitbookfestival.com

BIPOC Bookstores in Arizona:

– Palabras Bilingual Bookstore – Latinx-owned bookstore in Phoenix. https://palabrasbookstore.indiecommerce.com/

– Grassrootz Bookstore – Black-owned bookstore in Phoenix. https://grassrootzbookstore.com/

More opportunities:

Pitch events for BIPOC:

– DVpit – A biannual Twitter pitch event for self-identifying, historically marginalized authors & illustrators https://www.dvpit.com/

– Latinxpitch – A Twitter pitch event specifically for Latinx creators held on September 15th https://latinxpitch.wordpress.com/

– We Need Diverse Books – A resource page with articles about writing diversely and grants/awards for diverse creators. https://diversebooks.org/resources/resources-for-writers/