May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and the OLC is honored to announce that Kelly Yang will kick off the 2022 Convention and Expo on Wed., Sept. 28 at the Glass City Center in Toledo. Yang is an Asian American writer and author of young adult and children’s literature. She won the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the 2018 Parents’ Choice Gold Medal for Fiction for her book “Front Desk,” a book based on her experiences as a 10-year-old working at her family’s motel business.

In her new book, “New From Here,” Yang takes on the perspective of Knox Wei-Evans, a 10-year-old boy who is uprooted from his home in Hong Kong as the coronavirus spreads from China to the rest of the world. The impact of injustice and bullying have always been themes of Yang’s work, but she was shocked when she experienced two coronavirus-related hate incidents in 2020. Yang will share her experiences and thoughts on AAPI leaders and change-makers — the inspiration behind her new children’s book, “Yes We Will: Asian Americans Who Shaped This Country.”