Read Your Mind: Mental Health in Teen Books — a monthly, virtual series focusing on teen mental health and wellness — is scheduled to return to Lewiston Public Library.
Featuring young adult authors and community health experts, the library hopes to explore complex and common health concerns through the vehicle of teen books, according to a news release from the library.
Its 2022 series debut will feature authors Maia Kobabe and Shelby Criswell for a virtual author talk at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, via Zoom and streamed to the library Facebook page.
The authors will discuss how queerness and gender identity impact teen mental health, through the lens of their graphic novels “Gender Queer” and “Queer As All Get Out.” The authors will be interviewed by youth from the community guest organization MaineTransNet.
Kobabe is a nonbinary, queer author and illustrator from the Bay Area, California. Kobabe’s first full-length book, “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” was published in 2019.
Kobabe’s short comics have been published by The New Yorker, The Nib, The Washington Post and in many print anthologies including “The Secret Loves of Geeks,” “Faster Than Light Y’All,” “Gothic Tales of Haunted Love,” “Advanced Death Saves,” “Be Gay, Do Comics” and “The Most Important Comic Book on Earth.”
Before setting out to work freelance full-time, Kobabe worked for more than 10 years in libraries. Kobabe’s work is heavily influenced by fairy tales, homesickness, and the search for identity.
Criswell is a genderqueer comic artist and graphic designer from San Antonio, Texas. Criswell is known for work in “The Nib,” “Be Gay, Do Comics,” “Terminal Punks,” “Sweaty Palms II,” and their latest debut graphic novel, “Queer As All Get Out.”
MaineTransNet is a community-based organization led by transgender people for transgender people. It provides peer-to-peer support groups, social and community events, advocacy for the transgender community across Maine, and transgender cultural competency training for medical, mental health and social service providers. The organization engages transgender people and their allies across Maine in the practice of community building and organizing for mutual liberation.
Admission is free to all Read Your Mind events. The Zoom link will be posted to the library website and Facebook prior to the event. For more information on this series, contact the library at 207-513-3135 or lplreference@lewistonmaine.gov.
The Read Your Mind series, at lplonline.org, is a partnership between the Portland Public Teen Library, the Lewiston Public Teen Library, Print: A Bookstore, and many local community partners who work with young people. Visit Print Bookstore to purchase any of the books featured in this series.
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