Adam Rex grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, the middle of three children. He was neither the smart one (older brother) or the cute one (younger sister), but he was the one who could draw. He took a lot of a…
Matt de la Peña is the New York Times best-selling, Newbery-medal-winning author of six young adult novels and four picture books. Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State Univer…
I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky in the 1970’s. We had no artists of any kind in the family. We didn’t know any artists. I liked sports, especially baseball. My mother read to me a lot. But I have to …
Soman Chainani’s debut series, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL, has sold over 4.5 million copies, been translated into 35 languages across six continents, and has been adapted into a major motion picture f…
Bao Phi is a Vietnamese-American spoken word artist,[1][2] writer and community activist living in Minnesota. Bao Phi's collection of poems, Sông I Sing, was published in 2011[3] and, Thousand Star Ho…
Sonia Sotomayor, J.D. (Yale Law School, 1979; B.A., Princeton University, 1976), is the 99th Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, nominated by President Barack Obama to fill the seat of the re…
Ever since his childhood in one of Ohio’s most haunted houses, writer director Drew Daywalt has been writing escapist fantasy and building worlds of his own. With a degree in Creative Writing, and a c…
Maggie Tokuda-Hall (1984 -) is the author of Also an Octopus, The Mermaid the Witch and the Sea, its sequel The Siren, The Spy and The Song, Squad, and Love in the Library.
Minh Lê is the author of Drawn Together illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat and Let Me Finish! (named an NPR Best Book of 2016) illustrated by Isabel Roxas (both published by Disney-Hyperion)…
ADIB KHORRAM is the author of DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY, which earned the William C. Morris Debut Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature, and a Boston Globe–Horn Book Ho…
Michaela Goade is an American illustrator. She won the 2021 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations in the book We Are Water Protectors written by Carole Lindstrom. She is the first Native American to w…
Ernesto Cisneros is a veteran English teacher currently serving the colorful city of Santa Ana, California. He holds an English degree from the University of California, Irvine; a teaching credential …
Chrystal D. Giles is a champion for diversity and representation in children’s literature. She made her debut with Take Back the Block, which received multiple starred reviews, was a Kirkus Reviews, S…
Joanna Ho Bradshaw is the author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners (HarperCollins, Jan 2021), Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma (HarperCollins, Fall 2021), and One Day (Winter 2023). She is a …
Jessica Love is an actor and the author-illustrator of Julián Is a Mermaid. She has a BA in studio art from the University of California, Santa Cruz, as well as a graduate degree from Juilliard. She h…
Cherry Mo grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the United States at the age of ten. HOME IN A LUNCHBOX is her debut picture book and was inspired by her first days of school in America. Cherry writes and…
JOSLIN BRORSEN lives in Oklahoma with her husband and five kids, and loves writing the kind of high-stakes stories that kept her younger self up all night reading with a flashlight. She wants her own …
Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams is the debut author of AN EXPANSE OF BLUE (Heartdrum, 2026), a YA novel in verse and a contributor to LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Heartdrum)…
