KEYNOTE SPEAKER

“Every issue in our society lands on children and young people, [as they are often] the most vulnerable members of our community who are given the least opportunity to share their voice institutionally. It’s really important that we do not lie down, that we do not curl into a ball, that we do not give up.” —Dr. Eve L. Ewing

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Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a writer, scholar, and cultural organizer from Chicago. An associate professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago, she is the award-winning author of five books. Her most recent book is Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

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Original Sins examines how the US education system, shaped by systemic prejudice and historically favoring White students, has played an instrumental role in creating and upholding racial hierarchies to the detriment of their Black and Indigenous peers. Through clear analysis and compelling storytelling—with citations spanning as far back as Reconstruction era textbooks—Ewing chronicles the failing foundational aspects behind standardized testing, academic tracking, disciplinary policies, and uneven access to resources. Praised by Oprah Magazine as a text that “illuminates a path for a more just future,” Original Sins will change the way people understand educational institutions. Ewing’s first book about education, the widely-acclaimed Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, focuses on the historically Black neighborhood of Bronzeville, where she taught middle school for three years.

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Electric Arches, Ewing’s debut collection of poetry, essays, and visual art, was marked by Publishers Weekly as “stunning” and praised by NPR for “a precision that is both beautiful and deeply uncomfortable.” Her next poetry collection, 1919, tells the story of the race riot that rocked Chicago in the summer of that year, and was adapted into a hit play by Steppenwolf Theatre. Maya and the Robot is Ewing’s first book for elementary readers. The New York Times called it “a delightful tale” and Publishers Weekly noted that this “tender-hearted middle grade debut wholly conveys the strength it takes to come out of one’s shell, the thrill of discovery and creation, and the power of pursuing wonder.” Ewing has also written several projects for Marvel Comics, most notably the Ironheart and Black Panther series, and she is currently telling mutant stories at the helm of Exceptional X-Men.

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In addition to these solo-authored works, Ewing co-authored the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks with Nate Marshall and co-wrote the short story “Timebox” with Janelle Monáe as part of the queer Afrofuturist short story collection The Memory Librarian. She also cowrote the young adult graphic novel Change the Game with Colin Kaepernick, illustrated by Orlando Caicedo.

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Ewing has been an educator for many years in K-12, university, and community-based settings, including Chicago Public Schools, After School Matters, Harvard University, and Wellesley College. Currently, at the University of Chicago, she teaches courses on race, education, and Afrofuturism, and directs the Beyond Schools Lab and the Colloquium on Race, Education, and Social Transformation. She is also an occasional instructor for the Prison + Neighborhood Art Project, a visual arts and humanities project that connects teaching artists and scholars to folks incarcerated at Stateville Maximum Security Prison through classes, workshops and guest lectures. Ewing serves on boards or in an advisory capacity for the Words of Wonder Literary Festival, A Long Walk Home, Market Box/Ecosystems of Care, and the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship.

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Born and raised in the Logan Square community of Chicago, Ewing is a proud alum of Chicago Public Schools. She completed her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to that, she received an undergraduate degree with honors in English Language & Literature from the University of Chicago, with a focus on African-American literature of the twentieth century. She also holds an MAT in Elementary Education from Dominican University and an M.Ed in Education Policy and Management from Harvard. Her poems and essays have been published in many venues, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and Poetry Magazine.

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For more information on Dr. Eve L. Ewing, please visit her on Instagram and at eveewing.com.