Sandra Jackson-Opoku is the author of the award-winning novel, The River Where Blood is Born and Hot Johnny and the Women Who Loved Him, an Essence Magazine Bestseller in Hardcover Fiction. She also c…
Cynthia Leitich Smith is a bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Here Come the Aunties!, Firefly Season, Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neve…
Mia McKenzie is the award-winning author of The Summer We Got Free and the creator of Black Girl Dangerous Media, an independent media and education project that centers queer Black women and girls. S…
Soraya Chemaly is a writer and activist whose work focuses on the role of gender in politics, religion, education, tech, and media. A 2016 Mirror Award Winner, her work appears in a wide range of publ…
Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning author of children’s books including her latest Never Look Back, a retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice set in New York by Bloomsbury Publishing. Her wor…
OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo, a Nigerian publishing house, and has been fr…
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based book club and digital platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. In fall 2017 she organized the fir…
Leila Mottley is the author of the novel NIGHTCRAWLING, an Oprah’s Book Club pick and New York Times best seller. NIGHTCRAWLING was longlisted for the Booker Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut N…
BOLU BABALOLA is a British-Nigerian woman with a misleading bachelor's degree in law and a masters degree in American Politics & History from UCL. She feels it is important to state that her thesis wa…
Lakita Wilson is the author of several novels and nonfiction projects for children and young adults, including What is Black Lives Matter? and Who is Colin Kaepernick? part of the New York Times bests…
Natalie Guerrero is a writer and producer based in Los Angeles. Her writing has been featured in publications such as Electric Literature, Byline, Goop, and Blavity. My Train Leaves at Three (2025) is…
L.S. Stratton is an NAACP Image Award-nominated author and former crime newspaper reporter who has written more than a dozen books under different pen names in just about every genre from thrillers to…
Joelle Wellington is the author of Their Vicious Games. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where her childhood was spent wandering the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. When she isn’t writin…
Channelle Desamours is an author and a high school science teacher. When she’s not napping to recover from her five a.m. writing sessions, Channelle can be found building tiny homes on The Sims 4 or c…
Rosália (she/her) has been in the “immersive story” space for over 8 years, producing visitor experiences for museums and theme parks internationally. She now champions diversity, inclusion, equity an…
