Vaunda Micheaux Nelson loves bringing books and children together and feels lucky to have two careers that foster this. The children's librarian and author says, "It was destined from the day I was bo…
Jewell Parker Rhodes has always loved reading and writing stories. Born and raised in Manchester, a largely African-American neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh, she was a voracious reader as…
Holly Goldberg Sloan was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and spent her childhood living in California, the Netherlands, Istanbul, Washington, DC, and Oregon (where she graduated from high school). She wr…
KATE MESSNER is the New York Times bestselling author of more than eighty books for young readers. Her titles include award-winning picture books like Over and Under the Snow,The Whale’s Tale and the …
#1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate has written many books for young readers, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal.
Heidi didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joine…
Kami Garcia is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author. She is the coauthor of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series, which has been published in 51 countries and 37 languages, w…
Jennifer lives at the base of a very tall mountain in Northern Utah with her husband, three children, and a naughty puppy. She loves the smell of rainy days, hot chocolate, and old books, preferably a…
Pablo Cartaya is a professional code switcher and lover of all things Latinx. He talks a lot and writes a lot which are paradoxical conundrums to overcome on a daily basis. He is the author of the acc…
Renée Watson is the author of the children’s picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House, June 2010), which was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Her middle grade novel…
Gavin Aung Than is a freelance cartoonist based in Melbourne, Australia. After working in the corporate graphic design industry for 8 years he quit his unfulfilling job at the end of 2011 to focus on …
Hi! I’m Cindy L. Rodriguez. My books are: WHEN REASON BREAKS (2015), VOLLEYBALL ACE (2020), DRILL TEAM DETERMINATION (2021), GYMNASTICS PAYBACK (2021), THE DOOMED SEARCH FOR THE LOST CITY OF Z (2021),…
Beth Ferry is the author of the picture books Stick and Stone and Land Shark. Her family has cared for myriad pets, including two land sharks, a hedgehog, a blue-tongued skink, and a heap of hamsters,…
Maple Lam loves creating characters and constructing worlds around them. When she is not illustrating or writing children's book, she is most likely reading books in a local Los Angeles library.
Amy Noelle Parks is a professor of elementary education at Michigan State University, where she helps future teachers recover from the trauma inflicted on them by years of school mathematics.
Mei Yu is an award-winning, internationally-published author and artist whose artwork and cheerful personality are loved by youth and parents around the world. She has one of the most popular art chan…
Andrea Beatriz Arango is the author of Newbery Honor Book Iveliz Explains It All and the Pura Belpré Honor Book Something Like Home. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she first became a te…
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…
Meg Eden Kuyatt is a 2020 Pitch Wars mentee, and teaches creative writing at Anne Arundel Community College. She is the author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature winning poetry collection “Drowni…
Anna Rosner is the award-winning author of two hockey biographies for young readers, as well as short fiction, scholarly articles and essays. Her historical novel, Eyes on the Ice, was released by Gro…
