Laurie Halse Anderson is a NY Times bestselling author of the book Speak, a brave book for young adults, released in 1999 that dealt with the rape of a young girl. It has sold over three million copies world wide and essentially opened up the conversation about sexual assault. In speaking to groups of young people around the country for now 20 years, Laurie Hulse Anderson has learned what we talk about, what we don’t talk about, what we need to know - both young women and especially young men.