Alexie among featured speakers at BookCon 2015

NEW YORK – National Book Award winners Sherman Alexie and Jacqueline Woodson will be among the featured speakers at BookCon 2015.

A year after receiving strong criticism for only inviting white authors as featured panelists, BookCon is teaming with the advocacy group We Need Diverse Books for two gatherings that will showcase authors of various backgrounds.

ReedPop, which produces BookCon, announced Thursday that one discussion will focus on science-fiction and fantasy and the other will focus on children’s literature.

Besides Alexie, who’s Native American, and Woodson, an African-American, guests will include such prize-winning authors as David Levithan and Kameron Hurley, who are white.

BookCon was founded last year as a fan-based companion to the publishing industry’s annual national convention, BookExpo America. For 2015, BookCon will be held May 30-31 in Manhattan.