Join diverse children’s book author and illustrator Anne Sibley O’Brien for the virtual talk “Mirrors & Lenses: Tools for Shifting the Conversation on Race” on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. with the MDI Racial Equity Working Group and the Jesup Memorial Library. O’Brien who has been engaged in anti-racism work for 50 years will focus on the different ways we can change the way we talk about race. 

O’Brien is a children’s book creator who has created thirty-eight books about diverse children and cultures, some of which she wrote, some of which she illustrated, and some of which she wrote and illustrated. She has been engaged for fifty years in anti-racism and diversity education and leadership training, with a particular focus on patterns of Whiteness. In 2000, she created a one-woman performance piece entitled “White Lies: one woman’s quest for release from the enchantment of whiteness,” which toured for thirty performances in Maine and New England. She is a cofounder of two projects featuring diverse books: I’m Your Neighbor Books, and the Diverse BookFinder. Her passion for exploring human difference grew out of her experience of being raised bilingual and bicultural in South Korea as the daughter of medical workers. She lives on Peaks Island.