it takes an norma's amount of time. it's a great question. i hope we both try to improve this. i'm sure you won't like this but i have to say i'm unable to remember when i have seen such a combination of brilliance compassion humility and one person it's quite amazing. thank you for being you. [applause]. i just do what my mama tells

me to do. i appreciate that comment. i try to work hard and i care about things i can't not unseat those issues that i've been countering. i still feel guilty that i didn't do enough. for vulnerable populations that are dealing with that. the kids that can go through the circumstances that they go through and come out and find some level of success and happiness work for it and care about others that is heroic. i'm just trying to report the facts. i do appreciate the comments very much. let's think they daniel one more time for coming out.

[applause]. think you so much for coming out. [indiscernible] book tv is on instagram. instagram.com what is the need

for respect. we had books that actively reflect it. it's a nonprofit organization were working on about six programs. in order to get at this issue for many different sites. we want to see if we can create more diversity. and they can see those stories. and it doesn't need to come from -- it doesn't need to come from a pool of different authors. >> yes that's part of our thing. and feel like we got that.

also representing publishing. you can help them come to new york city what is your reaction from the publishers. they are clamoring for more and more help. the author of 21 books. are you part of this program. i'm not part of the organization officially. i create an industry or re-creating an industry that values the fact that books are mirrors which we able to see

ourselves and understand our identity. we do see outside of ourselves and to really understand what community needs when you visit the student. and the bookstore. in the kids they are of value. they are worthy to each other. and not because of labels because you look like this. they understand that they are all humans. i have a 7-year-old daughter. they play together they live in they breathe and they laugh. and we as adults are ultimately responsible for

whether they continue that. if they segregate themselves. i see that they are far more advanced than we are. what are some of the books that you had written. is there a general theme to the book. i was talking to my dad about that i've written 21 books. the last six of them were for children. the last four had have a similar theme and that's how how it can ultimately transform children and how books are cool. there was a time in my life where books were uncool.

like i did not like words. my dad was forcing me to read the encyclopedia. i believed that they were like amusement parks. sometimes you have to let kids choose the right. in the last three books what is the book in a day program. it is a program that i started in 2006. how to write and publish books. it was a lofty goal so i began as a -- it began as a high school program. i began to teach them how to write and publish books in one

day. and students were not only writing they were coming up with the title design and the cover they were ordering the barcodes and doing all the work under my guidance to publish the book in 43 schools around the united states then had 43 books that were published by students. then i have the opportunity to go into an elementary school. come to find out it was. and i were the course of nine years 76 schools completed the program see five or six student authors. the program has now migrated to a much larger and less expensive program it is

essentially a book in a day in the kit. you're also an author. what have you written. i have my second book coming up in that series in july. and then i have my first one coming out 2017. it's like pretty little liar set in the valley boarding school. it started at the publishers convention. it was the panel of luminaries into children's books. it was mostly white men.

she just said wait a second. there are other people that are writing children's books that are equally successful. we have to do something about this. it's not okay. and so she started that. how do we get at this problem from several different angles. with the people to work together in order to change publishing we are trying to make sure that every kid has been able to get their hands on the book.

in the books that they own and half. we are trying to answer that call to our different initiatives. a lot of parents that's where we have a lot of that. there is a lot of families and parents because they were going to bookstores looking for this. they could find two. like every kid wants to save the world. a lot of the parents were the ones that were clamoring for these books. they want to be of the give their children before we started this interview you are telling the story them about coming to visit a school. in harlem he came to this and

worked with my eighth graders they cannot recover from the rest of the day. they were just in our that he could recite so much poetry on command they loved his book. so they would read through they wanted to see themselves there. >> kwame alexander how did you become a writer. it started with my parents.

they were the first librarian and teachers. that is the foundation but ultimately you can talk about anything here. it was trying to be able to learn how to communicate. i did not get cool until very recently. in college it was literature i was able to write poetry because i had been immersed in them even though i load that. i know it. it was second-year.

i faction myself able to take that because i had written this. so in the classroom i was able to see her as a model on this is something i think i can do. and here's how you do it. it's really where it began. you have to go through life saying yes. and we understand it's all part of life. knowing this can happen. you have to learn how to say yes to yourself for example

the crossover that has a lot of nose. i believe it was a good book. i'm an essay guest myself and i'm in a publish the book myself. i believe it's where the one week later i think you have to say lot yes to life that's what i learned directly. he is the ultimate say yes person. they figure out what's happening and then they make them work. how many books c