Award-Winning Author Maggie Tokuda-Hall to Deliver Civil Liberties Lecture

Tokuda-Hall to speak at 5th Annual Clara Breed Civil Liberties Lecture in San Diego

Published on Mar. 10, 2026

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

Best-selling and award-winning children's and young adult author Maggie Tokuda-Hall will deliver the 5th Annual Clara Breed Civil Liberties Lecture in San Diego. The lecture is named after Clara E. Breed, the former San Diego Public Library director who advocated for Japanese Americans wrongly imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II.

Why it matters

Tokuda-Hall is known for her unflinching voices in contemporary genre literature, particularly her public stance against Scholastic's demands to whitewash the history of Japanese American incarceration in her book "Love in the Library". The Clara Breed Civil Liberties Lecture honors Breed's legacy of service, decency, and advocacy on behalf of those wrongly imprisoned.

The details

Maggie Tokuda-Hall is the author of numerous award-winning children's and YA books, including "Love in the Library" and "The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea". She reached national attention when she publicly refused to accept a licensing offer from Scholastic that demanded edits to her author's note to whitewash the history of Japanese American incarceration during WWII.

  • The 5th Annual Clara Breed Civil Liberties Lecture will take place on March 10, 2026.

The players

Maggie Tokuda-Hall

A best-selling and award-winning children's and young adult author known for her unflinching voices in contemporary genre literature.

Clara E. Breed

The former San Diego Public Library director who advocated for Japanese Americans wrongly imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What’s next

The lecture will be held at the San Diego Public Library and is open to the public. More details can be found on the library's website at mysdpl.org/civilliberties.

The takeaway

This lecture honors the legacy of a librarian who stood up for civil liberties and the author's own principled stance against whitewashing history, underscoring the important role that authors and cultural institutions can play in preserving and sharing difficult truths.