Our Children's Authors

Linda J. Acevedo is the author of Breaking to the Beat! illustrated by Frank Morrison, which received 5 starred reviews and was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, Bank StreetCollege of Education, and the New York Public Library.

As a young child, access to the public library and scores of books shaped Linda's dreams, imagination, and movement in the world. Her storytelling is sparked by her intuitive observations and her experiences as aLatinx growing up in humble yet hopeful beginnings. She is a member of SCBWI and lives in New York. 

Sara Holly Ackerman is a school librarian and the author of many books for children, including The Gabi That Girma Wore, Not Just the Driver!, and Challah for Shabbat Tonight.

Sara grew up building forts in the woods around her Wisconsin home. When she wasn’t in a fort reading, she was probably at the library, checking out more books. She still loves to read, dream, and write outdoors or in secret hideaways.

The author of several forthcoming picture books, Sara loves going on adventures with her family. Whether she is hiking a glacier, foraging along a mountain path, or tending her garden, she is always thinking about story.

Jacqueline Alcántara is the award winning illustrator of The Field and its companion Climb On!, both written by Baptiste Paul, Freedom Soup, written by New York Times bestselling author Tami Charles, Jump at the Sun, written by Newbery honoree Alicia D. Williams, and Your Mama, written by NoNieqa Ramos, which was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. Her works have received multiple starred reviews and been named Best Books of the Year by Kirkus, School Library Journal, Shelf Awareness and The Horn Book, among others. Forthcoming books including Jam, too? written by JaNay Brown-Wood, Ordinary Days, written by Angela Joy, Wifredo’s Jungle, written by Newbery honoree Margarita Engle, and Tíos and Primos her debut as author and illustrator.

Jacqueline created the artwork for the Chicago Women’s March “Ladies Marching” poster, and has done editorial work for the Obama Foundation, NPR, The Chicago Reader, The Chicago Foundation for Women, The Southern Poverty Law Center, Elle Decor, and the University of Chicago, among others. She spends her days drawing, teaching, rehabbing houses, and adventuring with her dogs. She is fueled by dance music, carbs and coffee, and has a boundless interest in learning new skills and taking on new challenges.

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Ahmed Alghariz is an Emergency Trauma Dance and Expression Therapist and Educator. He is one of the founders of Camps Breakerz, a Palestinian dance company and school started in 2004 in the Nusierat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip where Ahmed grew up. The crew provides hope and healing through community and connection. Not only are they teaching dance and giving the children the opportunity to process their trauma, but they also provide food, clothes, and medical aid.

Muhammad Ali's core principles of confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect, and spirituality guided him and made him one of the most beloved symbols of peace and well-being in America and the world.First known for boxing, and later for his conscientious stance on the Vietnam War draft, Ali focused his awareness of the needs of his fellow citizens and those in the developing world to direct his good work. In addition to challenging racial and religious preconceptions at home, he served as a symbol of hope and a catalyst for constructive international dialogue, delivered sorely-needed medical supplies to an embargoed Cuba, provided more than 22 million meals to the world’s hungry, and helped secure the release of fifteen U.S. hostages from Iraq during the first Gulf War. The United Nations named him a Messenger of Peace, and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as Amnesty International’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In September 2012, he was the recipient of the prestigious National Constitution Center Liberty Medal.Among his many projects, Muhammad cofounded the Muhammad Ali Center with his wife Lonnie, and contributed substantially to the awareness and research efforts regarding Parkinson’s disease.

Shawn Amos is a world-renowned Blues musician. Cookies & Milk is his debut middle grade novel, inspired by real-life events of growing up in a cookie store with his father Wally Amos, the founder of Famous Amos Cookies.

Micha Archer is an author and illustrator working in collage, oil and inks. She comes from a long line of artists and teachers. Her work for many years in a kindergarten led her to writing for young children. She creates her collages from papers she creates and patterned papers from around the world. Recognition of her stunning work includes the 2021 Caldecott Honor Award for WONDER WALKERS and the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for DANIEL FINDS A POEM.

She has a studio looking into the woods in Western Mass, and another in a tiny cabin high in the Costa Rican mountains and once she had one in a tower in Spain! Micha says, "Nature and me go way back. I grew up in a very active family. I had 3 older brothers and a younger sister. We had a rope swing in a huge maple with a treehouse in it. We took many, many camping trips and car trips to mountains all over the world. I have photos of me hiking in the Himalayas at 5, a volcano in Mexico at 9 and Colorado at 4. I live now at the base of a small mountain who I consider a friend of mine. We know it so well we hardly ever walk on a trail when we climb it. I find solace in Nature and love the challenge of trying to capture things like trees and water and reflections in my work."

Elana K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner DAMSEL, the National Book Award finalist WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF, and Global Read Aloud selection A BOY CALLED BAT and its sequels. THE BLOOD YEARS was the winner of the 2023 Sydney Taylor Book Award. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.

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Andrew Auseon is the author of acclaimed novels for young people, including Funny Little Monkey, Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot, Alienated (with David O. Russell) and Freak Magnet, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year. His books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the ALA’s Best Books for Young Adults, the Cybils, and state book awards. Auseon has an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College and a BA from Ohio University.

Kylie Lee Baker is a best-selling YA fantasy author and an adult horror author. Her debut novel, THE KEEPER OF NIGHT was an Indie Next and Book of the Month pick, find her at kylieleebaker.com.

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Karen Barton has worked across the U.S. in public, medical, and school libraries. She began writing fiction and screenplays as an undergraduate and received an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute (AFI) Conservatory. Her work spans from humorous to heart-wrenching and centers people of color.

In addition to writing stories in various formats, Karen may be found singing, trying to unravel mysteries in her genealogy or editing resumes for friends. Karen was born into a military family in Long Beach, CA, then was later raised in San Antonio, TX. She now resides in Los Angeles.

Artist and writer Mira Bartók is the author of The Memory Palace (Free Press), winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and noted in The Best American Essays 1999 and other anthologies. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants for her art and for her writing.

James Lance Bass is an American pop singer, dancer, actor, film and television producer, and author.

Marion Dane Bauer is the author of more than 100 books, ranging from board books and picture books through easy readers, both fiction and nonfiction, and middle-grade and young-adult novels, including her Newbery Honor title in 1987, ON MY HONOR.  She was one of the founders and the first Faculty Chair of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Mary Jane Begin is an award-winning illustrator for several children's picture books including The Wind in the Willows, A Mouse Told His Mother, and Little Mouse's Painting. She is also a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Melissa Benoist is an American actress based in Los Angeles who is best known for her roles in Glee, Whiplash, and Supergirl (in which she plays Supergirl). She and Jessica Benoist, her sister, are lifelong readers of science fiction and fantasy and are particularly passionate about using fantasy as a vehicle for making topical themes accessible to young readers. She lives in Kansas.

Sheryl Berk most recently collaborated with Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn DiScala on her memoir, Wise Girl, and with Britney Spears on her autobiography, Stages. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Peter, and their own little miracle, daughter Carrie.

Lynne Bertrand’s first novel, CITY OF THE UNCOMMON THIEF, is an intricate YA fantasy about a quarantined city gripped by fear and the war that might save it. Her previous books, all picture books, include a Booklist Editors’ Choice, and a New York Times Editors' Pick.

CITY OF THE UNCOMMON THIEF was published by Dutton Books for Young Readers. Described as precise, epic, masterful, and fascinating, it was a BookPage Best Book; a Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice; and a BCCB Blue Ribbon Book. In a starred review, Kirkus called it ★ ”A macabre marvel of a tale.”  The author's affinity for YA fiction prompted this ambitious project, for as she says, to be 13, 15, 17 is to be human times 10. "It’s a time of unprotected freedom, death, work, love. A good place for a writer."

Cari Best was born in a big city, grew up in a big city, went to school in a big city, and writes about kids in big cities, but she herself is happiest in the country.

She has been a translator of French, a children's librarian, an editorial director at a film company and now a very happy writer who loves packets of seeds for birthdays, walking in forests, finding rare sea shells around the world, eating pistachio ice cream, but most of all - babies.

Julie Bliven recently launched her writing career with the debut picture book SOMETIMES SHY. Separately, however, she has been an editor of books for young children for more than a decade. She holds a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons University, where she has mentored and taught in the MFA program. Julie lives in Yarmouth, Maine, with her husband, son, and their dog, Lucy.

Alex Boersma is a hugely talented illustrator and artist who did illustrations for Spying on Whales and who works with Stanford University, the American Museum of Natural History, and Duke University Marine Lab, and has done editorial illustrations for Emergence magazine and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Tom Booth is an author and illustrator of eight children’s books. Most recently he illustrated Malamander with author Thomas Taylor.

Todd Boss is an author, installation artist, inventor, librettist, podcaster, and film producer in Minneapolis. His fourth poetry collection from W. W. Norton & Co. is SOMEDAY THE PLAN OF A TOWN. His lyrics have been performed at Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. His work has been recognized with Grammy nominations, Emmy awards, and by the National Book Foundation. Todd is the founding Artistic Director of Motionpoems, a production company that has turned more than 150 contemporary poems into short films. His podcast, There’s a Poem in That, launched in 2023. 

In 2018, Todd sold all his possessions and circled the globe in a series of 30+ house-sits. He is the author of THE BOY WHO SAID WOW.

Akemi Dawn Bowman is the author of critically acclaimed YA contemporary titles such as Starfish, Summer Bird Blue, and the forthcoming Harley in the Sky. The Infinity Courts is her YA sci-fi debut.

Ann Braden writes books about kids learning to stand up for themselves even when it’s hard. Her debut middle grade novel, THE BENEFITS OF BEING AN OCTOPUS, was called one of “the essential middle school reads from the last decade” by Edutopia, and FLIGHT OF THE PUFFIN sparked a coast-to-coast read aloud with tens of thousands of students taking part.  Her newest book, OPINIONS AND OPOSSUMS, was a finalist for the New England Book Award and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Ann founded the Local Love Brigade, which sends love postcards to those who are facing hate. She also founded GunSenseVT, a grassroots group which helped pass landmark common ground gun safety legislation. Previously a middle school teacher, Ann lives in southern Vermont with her husband, two kids, and two insatiable cats.

Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Calista Brill is a writer and editor based in New England. She writes stories about boats, cats, dragons, construction equipment, elephants, and many other things. She likes reading comic books, singing very loudly, and eating lime Popsicles. Her latest book is Creaky Acres, with Nilah Magruder, a middle-grade graphic novel about riding horses and finding your people.

Waka is a Stanford graduate with a B.A. in International Relations and a Master’s in Secondary Education. She is a two time Oregon Book Award winner, and has authored the following children’s books through Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins Children’s Books:

While I Was Away (2021) is her debut novel.

Dream, Annie, Dream (2022) is her first work of historical fiction.

The Very Unfortunate Wish of Melony Yoshimura (2023) is a contemporary re-imagining of the Japanese folktale, “The Melon Princess and the Amanjaku.”

Perfect, her debut picture book (illustrated by Yuko Jones), publishes on Oct. 1, 2024.

Michael Brumm is a writer/producer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He’s also been a Consulting Producer for At Home with Amy Sedaris and a 4-time Emmy-winning writer for The Colbert Report. He is the co-author of the children’s book HIS ROYAL DOGNESS, and has written for various magazines and video games. Michael currently lives in New York City with his wife, Camille, and their two little cryptids, Henry and Bea. THE CRYPTID CLUB, a 4-book graphic series is published by Harper Alley.

Anne Brusatte completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol and earned a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from The City College of the City University of New York. She has taught elementary school for more than a decade in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She lives in Scotland, the setting of her first book for children, Dugie the Dinosaur.

Over the past 35 years, Robert Burleigh has published more than 50 children’s picture books, collaborating with such prominent illustrators as Wendell Minor, Ed Young, Mike Wimmer, Barry Blitt, Stephen Johnson, Katy Wu, and Sterling Hundley.

His books have won numerous awards. Born and raised in Chicago, Robert Burleigh graduated from DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana) and later received an MA in humanities from the University of Chicago. In addition to writing, Robert Burleigh paints regularly under the art name Burleigh Kronquist (www.Burleighkronquist.com) and has shown work in one-person and group shows in Chicago, New York, and elsewhere around the country.

Grace Byers is an actor and activist who stars in Fox’s hit series Empire. As a multiracial young girl and a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), Grace was bullied throughout her childhood. Her first book, I Am Enough, was born out of her desire to empower young girls against the effects of bullying. In her spare time, she volunteers with the nonprofit antibullying organization Saving Our Daughters. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, actor Trai Byers, and is currently working on her third book.

A painter, playwright, and television creator of Tutti Frutti, Byrne has designed album covers for The Beatles, Donovan, Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly. He has several paintings hanging in The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

Faith Capalia is an illustrator, author, and teacher based in Portland, OR. She received a BFA in illustration from the Pacific Northwest College of Art with an emphasis in picture book illustration. Faith's debut book "Melvina Whitmoore (More or Less a Horror Story) (HarperCollins, 2023) was praised for its distinctive illustrations and SEL themes. Her work emphasizes color, shape, and texture with influence from midcentury picture books and art history, and is created both digitally and traditionally, using gouache and colored pencil.

She has a passion for scary stories, fantasy, and making jokes. Faith holds a philosophy of supporting children in the exploration of all things weird, creative, and fantastical and uses her work in publishing and teaching to facilitate that exploration.  Faith spends her days teaching preschool art and reading picture books, and spends her evenings relaxing with her cats, Broccoli and Wormy.

David Catrow is the illustrator or author of over 100 books, including the wildly successful, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon series and the Max Spaniel series for Scholastic. Many of Mr. Catrow’s books are best sellers, including The New York Times listed I AIN’T GONNA PAINT and I LIKE MYSELF.

In addition to publishing he is also a production designer having worked on such films as HORTON HEARS A WHO, DESPICIBLE ME and STUART LITTLE, as well as early development work on the live action movie ENCHANTED.

David Catrow is a self-taught artist. Having originally received his education as a biologist, he has worked as a medical illustrator and later as a syndicated editorial cartoonist where his cartoons were syndicated to over 1,000 daily newspapers across the US and Canada.

Angela Cervantes is the award-winning author of several popular contemporary middle-grade novels published by Scholastic including, Lety Out Loud, which was named a Pura Belpré Honor Book by the American Library Association and selected for the KidsIndie Next List,  Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring, which was named a Junior Library Guild Selection and included in the prestigious Texas Bluebonnet Master List, Allie, First at Last, which received a starred review from Kirkus, and Gaby, Lost and Found, named Best Youth Chapterbook by the International Latino Book Awards and a Bank Street College of Education’s Best Book of the Year. Angela also authored Maritza: Lead with Your Heart, an American Girl book, and the junior novelizations for Disney/Pixar’s animated films Coco and Encanto. Her latest work, a spooky middle grade novel titled The Cursed Moon (Scholastic), has also been included in the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List for 2024-2025. Angela’s forthcoming books include the first two titles in a new middle grade fantasy-adventure series titled Anomalies 53, which will be published by HarperCollins.

Angela is the daughter of a retired middle-school teacher who instilled in her a love of reading and storytelling. When Angela is not writing, she enjoys conducting school visits, traveling and reading. Angela writes, reads and dreams from her home in Kansas City.

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e.E. Charlton-Trujillo is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and 2024 Michael L. Printz Award winner for their short fiction in The Collectors: Stories. Charlton-Trujillo has written several books for teens and children, notably the Fat Angie series, an ALA Stonewall Award Winner and Lambda Literary Finalist, and Prizefighter en Mi Casa, a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Winner. Their Lupe Lopez picture book series, co-authored with NYT Bestseller Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Joe Cepeda, garnered the International Latino Book Award, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard and was a Bank Street Best Spanish Book. A Girl Can Build Anything also co-authored with Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Keisha Morris, was a NSTA Best STEM Book Winner.

One of the most dynamic and inspiring speakers today, e.E. spends much of their time in schools and libraries celebrating the power and possibility of young people's stories. An MFA and NEH lecturer, Trujillo is also the co-founder of the youth literacy nonprofit Never Counted Out.

Amy Cherrix grew up in quirky Asheville, NC, not far from a formerly top secret NASA tracking station--a fact that fueled her early fascination with hidden history. For six years she had the best job in the world as the children's book buyer at the fiercely independent Malaprop’s Bookstore & Cafe in Asheville, NC.

Amy's books have earned starred reviews, been chosen as Indie Next selections, won Junior Library Guild awards, and named to best-books-of-the-year lists by The Horn Book, The New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, and Bank Street College. She is the author of the acclaimed young adult and middle grade non-fiction books: Virus Hunters: How Science Protects People When Outbreaks and Pandemics Strike, a finalist for the SCBWI Golden Kite Award; and In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race. Amy is also the author of two non-fiction picture books: Animal Superpowers and Animal Architects, as well as the picture book, Good Night, Little Bookstore. Amy lives in North Carolina.

Yangsook Choi is the author of the bestselling classic THE NAME JAR. Growing up in Korea, she began drawing at age four and delighted in telling her grandmother scary stories at night. After moving to New York to pursue her art, she has written and illustrated many books for young readers. Her books have been acclaimed as a New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, an American Library Association Notable Book, and with an International Literacy Association's Children's Book Award.

Arree loves storytelling and art, and pursued his love of art at Art Center College of Design. He has worked in the Entertainment Industry as a Concept Artist and Art Director. In 2010, Arree won first place at the SCBWI Western Washington Portfolio show launching his passion for children’s books.

Arree continues to work on picture book stories and has a middle-grade novel encompassing the Immigrant experience releasing soon. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Julien Chung is an award-winning illustrator, who works with editors and art directors to make wonderful, thought-provoking and colourful picture books for kids. He is inspired by poster art and loves bright color and simple shapes. His style is bold, bright and graphic with a vintage vibe. With 12 published books and several more in the works, he has earned accolades for his illustrations from 3x3 magazine, American Illustration, the Society of Illustrators, Applied Arts, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and the Nami Concours, to name a few.

His artistic career began in his childhood home—inspired by the bright visuals of his mother’s children’s book collection and his father’s love of modern architecture and Scandinavian furniture. Julien likes chocolate ice cream (preferably with chocolate chunks), sketching with rainbow pencils (you never know what color the line will be), and dogs. He lives in Montreal with his wife. Even though Montreal is full of skyscrapers, there’s a park nearby with squirrels, woodpeckers, deer, and Canada geese. Julien likes to draw them all.

Pan Cooke is a graphic novelist and cartoonist best known for his viral Instagram account @thefakepan.

Susan Cooper is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her classic five-book fantasy sequence The Dark Is Rising won the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor and has sold millions of copies worldwide. She is also the author of VICTORY, a Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth book and a Washington Post Top Ten for Children novel; KING OF SHADOWS, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor book; THE BOGGART; and many other acclaimed novels for young readers and listeners.

David Cooper is a multi-media artist and muralist, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared on book covers, ad campaigns, and editorial publications, such as The New York Times, Print Magazine, and POZ Magazine and as illustrations for picture books. He has painted large-scale murals at Miami Art Basel, Brooklyn, and other locales to be discovered by urban explorers. His work has been exhibited at The New York Society of Illustrators, Illustration West, American Illustration and 3x3 Magazine. He teaches at The Pratt Institute and Marywood University.

Caroline Corrigan is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator living and working in upstate New York. Her illustrations and design work can be found in books such as The Ultimate Easy Screen Printing Book and in Terre magazine. Her first children’s book, Women Artists A-Z, was published by Dial Books for Young Readers in February 2020.

Kayla Cottingham is a YA author and librarian. Their first book, My Dearest Darkest, was a New York Times and Publisher's Weekly bestseller, an ALA 2023 Rainbow Book List Selection, a New England Book Award finalist, made The Children’s Book Council’s 2023 Young Adult Favorites Award List, and a Barnes & Noble YA Monthly Pick. Their sophomore novel, This Delicious Death, published in April 2023 from Sourcebooks Fire and received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Kayla lives in Boston where they love to go hiking in the woods, play RPGs, and snuggle on the couch with their ridiculously large black cat, Squid.

Dare Coulter's art is a space for joy and reflection. She is an award-winning sculptor, muralist, and illustrator who focuses primarily on depictions of black families and people, and is the excited recipient of the 2024 Coretta Scott King Illustrator book award. Dare creates imagery that reflects the fullness and vibrancy of the black cultural experience. In 2023 she illustrated Kwame Alexander's "An American Story" (5*) and Dr. Ebony Joy Wilkins' "Zora the Story Keeper" (3*). In 2024 Dare has exciting upcoming projects including a 190ft public art sculpture in Durham, NC, an upcoming release of Jessica Care Moore's "Her Crown Shines: For Ketanji Brown Jackson" and a second book with Kwame Alexander. While Dare is pursuing her dream of creating monumental sculptures to black joy all over the world, she is having a great time visiting schools and painting murals, and sharing her passion for art with the world. Follow her for the journey on social media!

Born and raised by the Great Lakes, Alex Crespo writes about queer love, magic, and all the ways they intersect. When not writing, you can find him making art or daydreaming about Mothman. He currently lives in Chicago with an endless anime watchlist and his black cat Hex. Saint Juniper’s Folly is his debut novel.

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Mark Crilley is the author and illustrator of more than fifty books and graphic novels, including The Akiko series and The Drawing Lesson, for which he has received fourteen Eisner Award nominations. His latest book, The Mighty Onion, was selected as one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2024. His work has been featured in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, and on CNN Headline News. His popular YouTube videos have been viewed more than 400 million times.

Sarah Park Dahlen is an author and scholar. As a child, she was a voracious reader but didn’t see Korean Americans in books until she got to college. When she learned that Linda Sue Park had won the John Newbery Medal, and An Na had won the Printz Medal, their books inspired her to become a professor so she could research Asian American children’s books and work with librarians, authors, illustrators, and other people who care about children and books! Dr. Sarah now also writes for children. She is represented by Tricia Toney Lawrence of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Tara Dairman writes novels and picture books about kids with strong passions and big questions about the world. Tara’s books include The Girl from Earth’s End; the All Four Stars series; The Great Hibernation; Go, Baby, Go (illustrated by Oliva Amoah); and Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy (illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan). These titles have been named to best-of-the-year lists by A Mighty Girl, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and more. Tara has traveled to more than 90 countries, and currently resides in Colorado.

“She/her” or “they/them” are great pronouns to use when referring to Tara.

Linda Davick is a writer/illustrator who started her work in children’s literature after a long career in animation and design. After working with clients like Amazon, Crayola, Klutz Press, and Sesame Street, her first illustrated book appeared on The New York Times’ Best Seller list. That book was a seasonal counting book that launched the popular ""Ten Friends"" series. Her next book, I LOVE YOU NOSE, I LOVE YOU TOES! won an Ezra Jack Keats honor. Since then, she’s written and illustrated many picture books including Cynthia Rylant’s WE LOVE YOU, ROSIE; Elana K. Arnold’s WHAT RILEY WORE; and Judy Sierra’s WE LOVE OUR SCHOOL! Currently she is working on two forthcoming books with Beach Lane.

Linda lives by the Rio Grande Nature Preserve in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Danielle Davis grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong and now lives in Downtown Los Angeles. She is a writer, collaborator, teacher, and independent picture book editor. Her goal with every project is to offer kids validation, comfort, and hope. And she enjoys helping writers tap into their own unique voices and visions.

Danielle's first picture book was TO MAKE, illustrated by Mags DeRoma, published with HarperCollins. Her first middle grade novel was ZINNIA AND THE BEES. She loves visiting schools and libraries to read and craft with kids, speaking about her work, and writing and producing animation projects. Danielle has an M.A. in literature and creative writing and had the privilege of teaching English to middle school and then community college students.

Auriane Desombre is a former English teacher currently pursuing an MA in English Lit at NYU and an MFA in Creative Writing for Children at The New School. She writes YA fiction to inspire and encourage young readers in the LGBTQ+ community. I Think I Love You is her debut.

Ani DiFranco is a Grammy Award-winning singer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, songwriter, activist, businesswoman, and New York Times bestselling author. She has released more than 20 albums, and is one of the first independent musicians to create her own label, Righteous Babe Records (based in Buffalo, NY). She is widely known as an activist and feminist icon, and the Righteous Babe Foundation supports causes ranging from abortion rights to gay visibility.

Katy Duffield is the award-winning author of more than forty books for children. She writes both fiction and nonfiction on a wide range of topics including books about a farmer who lost his cows, a house looking for a home, orangutans, venom extractors, penguin protecting dogs, an alien with a cold, a little gal with a big voice, and many others. Her book, Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals, illustrated by Mike Orodán, was named a Kirkus Best Picture Book of 2020, an ALSC Notable Book, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a 2020 Eureka Gold Book Award. The book is also included on many state reading lists and was chosen as a 2021 Maryland Blue Crab Honor Book, a 2022-22 Maine Chickadee Honor Book, and the winner of Pennsylvania’s Keystone to Reading Award (Intermediate level).

Katy has a soft spot in her heart for nature and animals of all kinds. She loves spending time outdoors, hiking, and camping. She also enjoys creating mixed media art and observing and photographing the birds, deer, possums, (and once even a fox family!) that visit her backyard. For more information about Katy and her work, please visit www.katyduffield.com

‍Over the years, Dunbar has worked as a drama critic, journalist, and marketing manager, and has written on topics as diverse as traditional Irish music, court cases, and theater. She lives in Nashville with her husband and daughter.

Ivan Ehlers is an Ecuadorian-American cartoonist and writer with work appearing in The New Yorker, Mad Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Wired, the Boston Globe, Air Mail and many other publications. Brand collaborations include: Exploding Kittens, WeWork, Yale University and Donald Glover (Childish Gambino). In 2021, he was nominated for a National Cartoonist Society award for Advertising/Product Illustration. He is a lifelong resident of the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The embodiment of genius and the pre-eminent scientist of the modern age, his theories and discoveries have profoundly affected the way people view and understand the world and their place in it. Einstein was also known as a philosopher and humanist who was keenly interested in and concerned about the affairs of the world.

His sagacious, wise, and humorous quotations, letters, and articles are widely used throughout popular culture as well as in historical and academic works. Einstein’s name and image are instantly recognizable everywhere in the world.

Sudanese by way of D.C., Safia Elhillo is the author of Girls That Never Die, The January Children, Home Is Not a Country, and Bright Red Fruit, and co-editor of the anthology Halal If You Hear Me. Winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, the California Book Award, the Arab American Book Award, and the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, she is also the recipient of a Cave Canem Fellowship, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, and a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from The Poetry Foundation. Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, The Penguin Book of Migration Literature, and The New Yorker, among others.

Michael Emberley is a children’s author and illustrator based in Dublin, Ireland. His numerous works include the iconic nonfiction title It’s Perfectly Normal (Candlewick), the bestselling series You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You (Little Brown), and, more recently, Ms. Brooks’ Story Nook (Knopf). His latest children’s picture book is I Can Make a Train Noise with Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, published by Neal Porter Books.

Actor and producer Omar Epps was first introduced to audiences as Q in Ernest Dickerson’s cult classic Juice, opposite Tupac Shakur. He has gone on to star in the beloved romance Love & Basketball, as Dr. Eric Foreman on massively popular TV show House, as Jeff Cole in In Too Deep, as Isaac Johnson on Shooter, and as Darnell on This Is Us. He is the author of a memoir, From Fatherless to Fatherhood. Nubia: The Awakening is his first novel.

Jill Esbaum lives on a family farm in eastern Iowa, where she enjoys writing fiction and nonfiction for kids. New in 2025 are Polecat Has a Superpower and It's Corn Picking Time! Other titles include Stinkbird Has a Superpower, Parrotfish Has a Superpower, Bird Girl, Jack Knight's Brave Flight, We Love Babies!, How to Grow a Dinosaur, Frankenbunny, If a T. Rex Crashes Your Birthday Party, Elwood Bigfoot, Teeny Tiny Toady, and many more. Jill is also the author of a graphic early reader series, Thunder & Cluck. Several of her books have been nominated for (or won) state awards, and her I Am Cow, Hear Me Moo! won the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrator’s Crystal Kite award.

Jill is the creator of the Picture Book Builders blog and co-founder of the Whispering Woods Picture Book Writing Workshop/Retreat.

Emily Ettlinger is a cartoonist, illustrator, and teacher based in almost-DC, Maryland. She holds a BFA in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her debut graphic novel SKELEANOR THE DECOMPOSER (Penguin Workshop, 2023) was described as "a gentle, winning tale” by Kirkus. A Spanish edition was released in 2024, published by Astronave. Emily loves using art to explore both the silly and the serious (with the scales perpetually tipped towards the former). She works both digitally and traditionally with a focus on ink, gouache, and watercolor. She teaches part-time at a local arts center where the children mock her project examples.

Max Fischer is a trans Pushcart Prize–nominated poet who holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults. His work focuses on queer joy told through the lens of unconventional narrative structures and the merging of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Originally from the Midwest, he now lives in Brooklyn, writing poems at the pier.

Although Susan loves to write about long-ago and faraway places, she can’t bring those worlds to life without grounding them in the details of this one. To that end, she has explored lava tubes and sea caves; spent the night in a lighthouse; traveled along the Silk Road in Iran; ridden in a glider, on a camel, and on a donkey; and cut up (already dead!) baby chicks and mice for a gyrfalcon’s dinner. Collectively, her books have been translated into seven languages; accolades include the American Library Association’s Notable Books and Best Books for Young Adults, BCCB Blue Ribbon Books, and School Library Journal’s Best Books.

Susan has an M.A. in English from the University of Michigan and taught for many years in the M.F.A. in Writing for Children program at Vermont College. She lives in Bryan, Texas, with her husband, historian R.J.Q. Adams, and their dog, Neville.

Nancy Bo Flood is the author of more than 20 books, reflecting her experiences and the many places she has lived and worked. Her books include novels for young adults, collections of legends from the Pacific, picture books, poetry, and non-fiction topics ranging from world hunger to the role of water in our lives.  Her awards include the Sigurd Olsen Nature Writing Award, inclusion in the White Raven International list of best children’s books, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard, Colorado Book Award, several Notable Books for a Global Society recognitions, among others. I WILL DANCE is about Eva, a real girl with severe cerebral palsy, who is determined to dance--not pretend, but real. 

Debbi Michiko Florence, a third-generation Japanese American (sansei), is the acclaimed author of more than 25 books for children and tweens. Her books have received starred reviews, JLG Selections, and inclusion on lists such as Amazon Best Books and the Chicago Public Library Best of the Best. She loves to write stories about friendship, family, and first crushes. Her middle-grade novels include Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai and her new mystery series Last Chance Academy. She is also the author of the award-winning Jasmine Toguchi chapter book series, which has sold more than 150,000 copies, and picture books, including the forthcoming Monster Maker: The Strange Creatures of Mark Nagata. A native Californian, Debbi now lives in Connecticut where she writes in her studio, The Word Nest.

Artist and poet Douglas Florian was born and raised in New York City and educated at Queens College and the School of Visual Art. Florian was a cartoonist for the New Yorker before a chance encounter with William Cole’s anthology of children’s verse, OH, THAT'S RIDICULOUS (1977), inspired him to try his hand at illustration.

Florian’s illustrated poetry books for children often incorporate elements of collage, watercolor, and gouache on a surface of primed paper bags. He frequently takes the natural world as his subject, using wordplay, neologisms, rhyme, and humor to engage young readers. Douglas Florian is the creator of dozens of acclaimed picture books. He lives with his family in New York.

JR and Vanessa Ford are nationally recognized advocates for trans youth.

Janet Fox is the award-winning author of twelve books for young readers, including three YA novels, 3 middle grade novels, two picture books, and one middle grade non-fiction, with more books coming. Her most recent books include the middle grade CARRY ME HOME (Simon & Schuster 2021) about a pair of unhoused sisters, and picture book WINTERGARDEN (Neal Porter Books 2023, illustrated by Jasu Hu) which received four starred reviews. The middle grade THE MYSTERY OF MYSTIC MOUNTAIN (Simon & Schuster 2024) is a kid-driven hunt for a long-lost outlaw treasure set on an aging dude ranch in Montana and is a finalist in the Juvenile category for the Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America.

Janet is a book coach and teacher and has an MFA in writing for children from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and lives with her husband and their friendly yellow Lab in the Montana mountains. You can find more at www.janetsfox.com and follow her on writing craft here: https://janetfox.substack.com/

Jessica Fries-Gaither is an award-winning author of books for children and teachers. Her writing introduces readers to the wonder of the natural world and the work of scientists, past and present. Jessica holds bachelor's degrees in Biological Sciences (B.S.) and Anthropology (B.A.) and a Master's in Education (M.Ed.) from the University of Notre Dame. A veteran science educator with over 25 years of experience, she is currently an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Library of Congress. Prior to the fellowship, she was the Science Department Chair and Lower School Science Specialist at Columbus School for Girls. She lives in Columbus, OH with her husband and lovable but rambunctious dogs. She also enjoys reading, cooking and baking, and spending time outside. Learn more at her website, www.jessicafriesgaither.com and follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jfriesgaither, on Instagram at @JessicaFGWrites, and on Blue Sky at @jessicafgwrites.bsky.social.