I am EXTREMELY PSYCHED to be going to the Diversity in YA event tomorrow in New York (and maybe the GLBT-focused one today in New York, if the public transportation deities cooperate). Rita Williams-Garcia AND Jacqueline Woodson! I hope it will be a better panel experience overall than you had -- I do think there are certain ways in which the need to be a spokesperson for one's own books can work against critical discourse, no matter how good and how thoughtful the authors involved are.