Teri Kanefield is a lawyer and the author of The Girl from the Tar Paper School and the Making of America series, among other books. She lives in San Luis Obispo, California.

Tom Lichtenheld makes books for children and people who used to be children. He’s been fortunate to work with many talented writers, editors, and publishers who’ve helped him enjoy the best job in the whole wide world.

Tonya Bolden has written numerous bestselling books for children and adults, and her work has garnered many awards, including the Coretta Scott King Honor, James Madison Book Award, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and YALSA Best Book of the Year. She lives in New York City. Visit tonyaboldenbooks.com.

Vashti Harrison, is the #1 New York Times bestselling author-illustrator of Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History and Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World. She is an artist and filmmaker with a passion for storytelling. She earned her BA in studio art and media studies from the University of Virginia and her MFA […]

Susan Muaddi Darraj won an American Book Award for her short story collection, A Curious Land; the book also won an Arab American Book Award and the AWP Grace Paley Prize. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including a USA Ford Fellowship, a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant, a Maryland Individual Artists Award, and […]

Sarah Allen has been published in The Evansville Review, Allegory, and on WritersDigest. She has an MFA from Brigham Young University. Like Libby, she was born with Turner Syndrome. What Stars are Made Of is her first novel.

Sarah Mlynowski is the New York Times bestselling author of the Whatever After series, the Magic in Manhattan series, Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have) and many other books for tweens, teens, and adults. Along with Emily Jenkins and Lauren Myracle, she co-writes the Upside-Down Magic series, which will air on the Disney […]

Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed, Bengali folktale and string theory-inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books, the first of which—The Serpent’s Secret—was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Best Middle Grade Novel of the 21st Century, and an EB White Read Aloud Honor […]

Shannon Wright is an illustrator and cartoonist based in Virginia. She illustrated My Mommy Medicine by Edwidge Danticat, and some of her clients include the Guardian, TIME, the New York Times, NPR, and Google. Visit her online at shannon-wright.com.

Somaiya Daud is a writer, scholar, and speaker. In 2018 her debut novel, Mirage, was released in the United States with Flatiron Books and the United Kingdom with Hodder & Stoughton. It was hailed as “poetically written”, “immersive and captivating” and “beautiful and necessary” by The School Library Journal, Booklist and Entertainment Weekly. Mirage has […]