GYOPO welcomed young adult authors Mary H.K. Choi (Yolk, 2021), Sarah Suk (Made in Korea, 2021), David Yoon (Frankly in Love, 2019), and Nicola Yoon (Instructions for Dancing, 2021) to the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Los Angeles for “Korean American Young Adult Fiction Today,” a family-friendly reading and panel discussion organized in collaboration with local youth reading groups and partners such as the Koreatown Youth and Community Center. After a panel discussion, the event included breakout groups with the authors where event-goers could ask questions about the publishing industry and learn about the authors’ works in progress. This also offered the opportunity for empathetic discussions about navigating race and stereotypes.

Open to all ages and interests, the event invited attendees to immerse in topics such as character development using self as source material, adding breadth to the Korean canon and experience, and writing Asian diasporic identities from joy. This program addressed the complexity of a diversifying publishing industry, where writers of color advocate for stories that bring richness, depth, and joy to their characters’ multiplicity of identities, but also refuse to be pigeonholed into autobiographical storytelling.