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We Need Diverse Books, or WNDB, is a 501(c) organization committed to increasing diversity in children's literature and supporting the works of diverse authors. WNDB represents all forms of diversity including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. =History= We Need Diverse Books was born as a backlash to the revealing of an all-white panel of notable authors during BookCon 2014. As a response to the continued absence of diverse authors and diverse books, authors Ellen Oh and Malinda Lo began a conversation on Twitter on April 17, 2014 criticizing the lineup. Their cries were quickly picked up by a community of authors, but the conversation did not go viral until author Aisha Saeed contributed the hashtag #weneeddiversebooks.

Using the momentum garnered by the viral Twitter campaign, authors Oh and Lo, with support from many other authors, publishers, and bloggers, initiated a three day event to continue the conversation around diversity in literature and to begin developing strategic goals for the burgeoning campaign.

From there, the organizers launched an IndieGoGo fundraiser to support their proposed diversity initiatives. The original target was set to $100,000, but the campaign tripled that figure before it ended.

Once initial funding was secure, WNDB began taking the necessary steps to become a 501 c-3 non-profit organization. This step was completed in 2015, one year after the organization was officially founded.

=Initiatives= With the support of funds raised by the successful IndieGoGo campaign, WNDB has launched several diversity initiatives, including internships and mentorships for aspiring writers and those interested in working in the publishing industry.

WNDB also introduced The Walter award, named after prolific writer and diversity advocate Walter Dean Myers. The Walter is presented annually to a writer of a diverse background who is committed to representing diverse characters and stories in their work. The first Walter award was presented on March 18, 2016 to Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely for their novel All American Boys. In addition to the Walter award, several Walter grants are awarded to unpublished authors and illustrators to help support their efforts to create more diverse publications.

Additionally WNDB has partnered with Scholastic Corporation to create diverse collections for the Scholastic Reading Club.

=Executive Committee= Ellen Oh, CEO Dhonielle Clayton, COO & Senior VP of Librarian Services Sona Charaipotra, Senior VP of Content Management Leland Keel, CFO =Notable Team Members= Nicola Yoon Marieke Nijkamp Alex Gino Jennifer Mann Meg Medina Tim Federle Grace Lin Christopher Myers Matt de la Pena Jacqueline Woodson Gene Yang

=Publications= WNDB is set to publish two short anthologies featuring diverse stories from diverse authors. *Flying Lessons, available January 2017 *Lift Off, available summer 2018

=References=