Sensitivity Readers Webinar: What, When, How, and Why

Sensitivity Reader Header

When: November 6, 2021 | 5PM – 8PM Pacific (click here to convert to your time zone)
Where: Online via Zoom video conference
Price: $30 – $40 or Whatever You Can Afford (Details Below)

Creators who want to include characters or cultures different to their own in their work are often encouraged to employ the services of sensitivity readers or cultural consultants. But, how do you find a sensitivity reader? When in the process should you look for one? How many should you hire? How much does it cost? What’s the best way to work with them? Why do you need one at all?

In this webinar for writers, editors, and other publishing professionals, a panel of working sensitivity readers will answer all these questions and more. Join Mia Tsai, Nibedita Sen, Nino Cipri, Nicasio Andres Reed, and D. Ann Williams for an hour-long moderated discussion followed by an extensive Q&A.

You’ll leave with a fuller understanding of how the sensitivity reader process works and resources on where to find them.

Panelists

Mia Tsai

Mia Tsai is a Taiwanese American author of speculative fiction. Her debut novel, a xianxia-inspired contemporary fantasy titled BITTER MEDICINE, will be published by Tachyon Publications in November of 2022.

In addition to writing, Mia is also an editor and sensitivity reader. Her clients include Macmillan, Amazon Publishing, Bloomsbury, Erewhon, and others, as well as indie authors. She is the staff copy editor for the Dalcroze Society of America and a submissions editor for Giganotosaurus.


Nibedita Sen headshot

Nibedita Sen is a Hugo, Nebula, and Ignyte Award-nominated queer Bengali writer, editor, game and geek from Kolkata. A graduate of Clarion West, her work has appeared in venues including Uncanny, Podcastle, Nightmare and Fireside. She accumulated a number of English degrees in India before deciding she wanted another in creative writing, and that she was going to move halfway across the world for it.

These days, she can be found in NYC, where she lives with her spouse and their sweet elderly cat, steadily accumulating plants and pandemic hobbies. Hit her up on Twitter at @her_nibsen, where she can usually be found yelling about food, D&D, or what she’s currently crafting.


Nino Cipri headshot

Nino Cipri is a queer and trans/nonbinary writer, editor, and educator. A graduate of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and the University of Kansas’s MFA, Nino’s fiction has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy, Lambda, Nebula, and Hugo Awards. A multidisciplinary artist, Nino has also written plays, screenplays, and radio features; performed as a dancer, actor, and puppeteer; and worked as a stagehand, bookseller, bike mechanic, and labor organizer.

One time, an angry person on the internet called Nino a verbal terrorist, which was pretty funny.

Nino’s 2019 story collection Homesick won the Dzanc Short Fiction Collection Prize and was chosen as one of the top ten books on the ALA’s Over the Rainbow Reading List. Their novella FINNA — about queer heartbreak, working retail, and wormholes — was published by Tor.com in 2020, and its sequel DEFEKT came out in April 2021. Nino’s YA horror debut, Burned and Buried, will be published by Holt Young Readers in 2022.


Nicasio Andres Reed headshot

Nicasio Andres Reed is a writer, poet, and essayist whose work has appeared in venues such as Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Uncanny Magazine, and Fireside.

He lives in Tagaytay, in the Philippines, with four dogs, some family, and the occasional uninvited monitor lizard. Find him on Twitter @nicasioreed.


D. Ann Williams headshot

D. Ann Williams (she/her) is an Associate Agent at Emerald City Literary Agency, a writer, a freelance editor and sensitivity reader with 10+ years of experience, and a writing coach for WNDB, Black Creatives Revision Workshop. She has worked with all big 5 publishers, medium-sized and indie publishers, and self-published authors on a variety of adult and kidlit.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, SCBWI, Toronto Romance Writers, and Crime Writers of Color. Winner of the 2021 Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award and a 2021 Voodoonauts Fellow, she loves all things mystery, romance, and spec.

For more on D. Ann Williams visit her editing website, Edits by D, or her writing website.


Who Should Take This Webinar?

Writers and creators of all genres and narrative mediums who want to include characters or cultures very different to their own. Editors, publishers, and other publishing professionals who want to produce books that include respectful representation.

Registration and Payment Options

We’re offering multiple registration options for this webinar which we hope will make it more accessible to creators financially affected by COVID-19.

Live Webinar Registration is $40 for attendees. If you cannot afford this, please use the Live Webinar Reg – Pay What You Can Afford option, where you can pay any amount $1 or more. 

If you cannot attend the class during the live webinar, please choose Video Only Registration to get a recording of the class after the live webinar ends. While you won’t be able to participate in the Q&A session, you will get all the resources, the panel discussion, and answers to questions asked during the live session. The fee for this registration is $30. There’s a Video Only Reg – Pay What You Can Afford option for this as well. 

We will send the webinar video by November 15. 

Accessibility

Zoom meetings software is compatible with standard screen readers and has several other accessibility features that make it possible for writers who are Blind or vision impaired to participate in the webinar.

Questions will be submitted via the meeting software Q&A function.

Closed captions will be available, auto-generated by Rev.com. The recorded webinar will have closed captions and a transcript will be available.

Technical Requirements

Zoom video conferencing works on computers, tablets, and most smartphones. We suggest you access the live webinar via a computer for the best experience. Before enrolling, make sure your computer or mobile device is compatible with Zoom. To do that, load the app on your system and join this test meeting. If you’re attending on a mobile device and need the closed caption feature, you must turn on this setting before joining the meeting. 

Webcams and microphones are not necessary. Participants may submit questions during the Q&A portion of the webinar via text.

Refund Policy

We are not offering refunds for this webinar. If you purchase a ticket for the live session and are unable to make it, you will still get access to the recording. You may also submit questions ahead of time via email.

Register Below

If you have a Gift Card, discount, or code to access tickets, please click the “Enter promo code” link in the Registration box below before you begin the process. If the box below gives you trouble, click here to register on our Eventbrite page.