Keynote: Meg Medina
After a wonderful welcome, Sarah Baker introduced the amazing, the kind, warm and prolific Meg Medina took the stage. "I come here as a teacher but mostly, as your colleague."
We started with Story Time!
With a hilarious story of a travel mix-up in Houston, where she ended up at a hotel for a very different type of party instead of an invited book event—there was a lot of leather and confused looks of Meg in the lobby—Meg opened the keynote speak with this:
"Sometimes you think you're going somewhere and you've ended somewhere else, so it pays to check-in where you are. So let's do a check-in!"
Meg found her start at SCBWI, where she began at her local chapter in Virginia. She had been a writing teacher and "closeted poet" but not until SCBWI did she really make serious moves toward becoming a children's book writer.
The meetings were in a small church, which she drove two hours to get to. They sat on uncomfortable folding chairs (she promises its improved since then) but still knew it was a magical space.She didn't know anything and had never really done anything in this realm but she knew she was sitting in room with other people with the "strange longing for the impossible."
Since the beginning of her career, A LOT has change. She remembers when Instagram and the new iPhone was launched. But being toward the back half of her career, she reflects on her where she started and where she is now.
From her first book,
Milagros (2008) to
Graciela in the Abyss (2025), she has learned a lot, and much has changed. From her first one went into print and disappeared quickly to her most recent one has been celebrated, she wanted to represent the bookends of her career to show how things develop and change. Though she didn't want to totally go in about her process, she wanted to talk about what she thinks will be useful to us.
She posed the question, "What's it gonna take to fly long term in this career?"
First, she encourages us to think big and lovingly about yourself and others.
Meg believes that at the beginning of your career, we tend to ask: How? How do i break-in? How do I write that query? How do I get an agent to represent me? How do I get to the next level? Stand out?
Though these questions are important, they are not essential.
She believes the important question is: WHY? Why do you do this work?
We all have different whys and it will change over the years.
Her "why" started as a "craving for a creative life —wanting to tell stories" to "living a examined life, and putting those examinations on the page to help pave the way for kids growing up." She wants to "walk alongside them through the good, bad and ugly times." Her advocacy for diversity and inclusivity will never, ever change!
For Meg, growing up was a mixed bag. Though there were many challenges, it taught her that even through difficulty, you can also learn how to make it out. She is committed to help kids face contradictions in their life and to wonder how it all fits together.
"Enter the Care Team"
Function a "tios" and "tias." When we write, we share stories of being/ living among flawed humans. We are helping them see the broken spots, and pursue higher aspirations, giving them an emotional and intellectual toolbox.
"Don't do this career to get back at your bullies or to be famous"
Even after 20 years, she still struggles with writing. She goes through tons of drafts, and existential crisis' but this is what she comes to—her mantra, "I am still learning and I will be forever" so she wishes us a lifetime of "Sacred Suffering!"
It took her 15 years to finish writing Graciela in the Abyss, after false starts and many drafts. Pandemic brought us all to the "edge of the chasm" where we saw in real time the "withering" of books as we dealt with unprecedented times. This brought up the question—"What do we owe each other as a community?" After all the isolation, grief, sadness and loss. Meg revisited her novel and this time, she wanted to explore the darker side of existence. Though she never was a fantasy writer, she wanted to push herself. Meg did her research about oceanography, fantasy writing, world building, etc and dove in!
Meg says, after 20 years, "humility and trust" are essential parts of the journey. Commit to learning and changing things. Commit to being edited. Growth and learning go hand in hand in this career. Be open to collaboration and connection throughout your career. Over your whole career!
"Scare yourself. Take risks." Lean into those relationships that fuel your creativity, expansion and artistic curiosity. But also, be mindful of what may drain your energy—public speaking, social media, updating websites, presentations, marketing. Be thoughtful and intentional how you navigate the intersection of art and commence, because that is where we sit.
"Reframe "business" to something more meaningful."
Make it feel more geared to community. Build relationships with other bookish people. When sharing out in the world, think:
- Am I expressing who I really am, professionally and personally?
- Am I dealing with something that I am adding to the community?
- Am I commenting on something that has happened in the world?
- Am I offering a way for people to know me and my work better?
BE INTENTIONAL and remember, it is focused on community. Meg encouraged us to take all that we can from this community but to put back in as well. Support teachers, librarians, artist who are being censored.
"If it is happening to one of us, it's happening to all of us." Give back, "bare witness and speak out in small ways." Donate, volunteer, do what you can for this community.
"Write with the best that is inside you!" Keep learning and growing with the trusted people you meet along the way. Respect yourself as an artitst today and remember you are a part of something that is bigger and loves you.
Meg Medina served as the eighth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She is the author of many notable works for young readers of all ages, including the Newbery Medal–winning and New York Times bestselling book Merci Suárez Changes Gears, the first in a trilogy. Meg's work has won numerous distinctions over the years, including the Pura Belpré award, the Ezra Jack Keats Writer's Award, the Charlotte Zolotow prize, and the Margaret Wise Brown prize, among others. Her work examines how cultures intersect through the eyes of young people. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she grew up in Queens, New York, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia.
www.megmedina.com
