Building Empathy through Books in our Divided & Diverse Country

It's no secret that we're currently living in a divided country. And yet we are also growing as a diverse nation, too. What role can fiction and nonfiction play in healing that divide? Can diverse stories help build empathy? What role do librarians play in their communities as we struggle with issues of polarization and diversity?

Marina Budhos

Marina is a prolific, award-winning author with worldwide reach. Her young adult novels include Tell Us We’re Home and Ask Me No Questions, which are taught in school districts throughout the country. Her adult novels include The Professor of Light and House of Waiting. A non-fiction book co-authored with her husband, Mark, is called Remix: Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers, which was a 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist. Her books have been published in several countries. Her short stories, articles, essays, and book reviews have appeared in a plethora of publications such as The Daily Beast, The Awl, The Huffington Post, LitHub, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares and more. Marina has been a Fulbright Scholar to India. Other honors include an Exceptional Merit Media Award (EMMA) and a Rona Jaffe Award for Women Writers. She has twice received a Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts and frequently gives talks throughout the country and abroad. A graduate of Cornell and Brown universities, Marina is a professor of English at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Her most recent book is called Watched, a sequel to Ask Me No Questions.