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 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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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 is CITY OF THE UNCOMMON THIEF. Her previous books, all picture books, include a Booklist  Editors’ Choice, and a New York Times Editors' Pick. Lynne's affinity for YA fiction prompted this novel, 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."

In a place such as this unnamed city, once you let go and face the things that frighten you, you’re as gone as Odysseus was in his odyssey. You tie yourself to the mast or outsmart the Cyclops in the cave because how else are you going to get home?

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.

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.

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.

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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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.

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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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.

‍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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Michael and Ava Gardner are the father-daughter team behind the viral Instagram account @daddydressedmebymg.

Karen Gebbia is a children’s book writer and naturalist based in California. She believes that books help children wonder, think, understand, and feel. Before writing for children, Karen spent two decades writing, publishing, editing, and teaching scholarly writing.

Rhiannon Giddens is a Grammy Award- and MacArthur “Genius” grant-winning American artist of folk and traditional music, played on fiddle and banjo, who is rigorously committed to reclaiming Black contributions to the genre.

An American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor, Goldberg received a Pulitzer Prize for his political cartooning in 1948. He was also a founding member and the first president of the National Cartoonists Society.

Charlie Greenwald is obsessed with dogs—especially his new rescue, Momo! Aside from children's literature, he has also co-written several plays with Jeremy Vandroff, including THE PAINTED WALL and SURPRISING SIMON, which won the RareWorks Theatre Festival at Emerson College. He lives in New York City with his wife.

Tommy Greenwald, the father of three sports-obsessed sons, has written dozens of books for children. His middle grade novel GAME CHANGER has been placed on over twenty state reading lists and was a YALSA Top Ten Book for Reluctant Readers. Tommy has published both middle grade and chapter books,  including the popular CHARLIE JOE JACKSON series and the CRIME BITERS! series, and is also the co-author of THE RESCUES, written with Charlie Greenwald and illustrated by Shiho Pate.

Among Tommy’s other work is the musical JOHN & JEN, produced off-Broadway in 1995 and revived in 2015. Tommy lives in Connecticut. 

A.B. Hamilton is a fantasy writer from south London. A school teacher by trade, he spends his free time crafting rich stories that explore themes of identity and belonging. His favourite authors include Ursula K. Le Guin, N.K. Jemisin, and Ted Chiang. He is an advocate for men’s mental health and supports increased inclusivity and representation across all levels of the publishing industry.

Brooks Hansen is a novelist, screenwriter, and illustrator. He is the author nine books, including novels both for adults and young readers. His first novel, The Chess Garden, was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, and he won a Guggenheim Fellowship for his novel John the Baptist. His new novel, The Unknown Woman of the Seine, is forthcoming from Delphinium Books.

Tony and Emmy award-winning stage and screen performer, Neil Patrick Harris is best known for his roles as Barney Stinson in the popular CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and as the iconic and beloved Doogie Howser, M.D. He’s been in many movies, hosted the Tonys, the Emmys, and the Oscars, and performed in several Broadway shows.

Rochelle Hassan grew up reading about dragons, quests, and unlikely heroes; now she writes about them, too. She is the author of the middle grade novel The Prince of Nowhere and young adult fantasy novel, The Buried and the Bound. She lives in New York.

Ritu Hemnani is a journalist, teacher, and storyteller, who hopes for every child to see themselves in the pages of a book and know that their stories matter. She is also a voice actor and motivational speaker. Ritu recognizes herself as ethnically Indian, a British national, and calls Hong Kong her home, where she lives with her husband and three children. 

Ritu shares the seeds of her writing journey and the inspiration behind her deep dive into her own family history in her 2019 TEDx Talk, “An Inheritance Worth Sharing.” When not writing or teaching, Ritu delights in family game nights, strumming the strings of her guitar, and paddling through Hong Kong waters on her carrot-colored kayak. 

Carter Higgins is the author of many books for young readers, including Everything You Need for a Treehouse, Some of These Are Snails, and the chapter book series, Audrey L & Audrey W. Her first book as both author and illustrator, Circle Under Berry, was named a Best Book of 2021 by Publishers Weekly, Smithsonian Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal.

Carter is a creative storyteller who designs playful experiences around visual literacy and believes the wit of kids' language is the best poetry of all. She is an Emmy-winning visual effects and motion graphics artist and spent a decade as an elementary school librarian. You can find her on Instagram @carterhiggins or online at carterhiggins.com. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Maria Hinojosa’s nearly thirty-year career as a journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WGBH, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring and executive producing the Peabody Award–winning show Latino USA, the longest running national Latinx news program in the country, distributed by PRX. She is also a contributor to the long-running, award-winning news program CBS Sunday Morning and an on-air contributor on MSNBC. She has won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, four Emmys, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club, and the Ruben Salazar Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also been inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2010 she founded Futuro Media, an independent nonprofit newsroom and production company with the mission of producing multimedia content from a POC perspective. Through the breadth of her work and as the founding co-anchor of the award-winning podcast In the Thick, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. Her adult memoir, ONCE I WAS YOU was an NPR Best Book of 2020. In 2022, she adapted ONCE I WAS YOU for young readers, blending her story with perspectives on history in the vein of Jason Reynolds’s Stamped. She lives with her family in Harlem, New York City.

Dr. David Hone is a palaeontologist and zoologist at Queen Mary, University of London, where he is also Director of Biological Scienes Programmes. He has published nearly 100 academic papers on dinosaur biology and behaviour, with a particular interest in Tyrannousaurs. David includes among his writing credits the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs. He has appeared on the Discovery Channel, BBC Radio 5 Live and RTE, acted as consultant for National Geographic documentaries, and written articles for The Guardian, New Scientist, The Times, The Independent, The Telegraph, The New York Times, and many others.

Barry Jackson is a prolific production designer, director of storyboard teams, writer, and children's book author/illustrator. Jackson's screen credits include The Prince of Egypt, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Titan AE, and Ron Howard's The Grinch. He was one of several production designers on the Dreamwork's production, Shrek.

Naseem Jamnia is a 2019 Lambda Literary Emerging Writers Retreat Fellow and freelance writer and editor, with an MS in Biological Sciences. Their nonfiction has appeared in The Rumpus, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan and other sites, and they were the 2018 Bitch Media Fellow in Technology. A native Chicagoan and child to Iranian immigrants, Naseem lives with their husband, dog, and two cats in Reno, Nevada, where they're getting their MFA in Fiction.

Kristin Kemper is a Missouri native who grew up reading library books and writing and illustrating her own stories. Now residing in Brooklyn, Kristin is a freelance illustrator and author of the webcomic Sylvania, as well as a graphic noveling instructor at Writopia Lab NYC.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the NYT Bestseller Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals.

She is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability.

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Laura Krantz is a founding partner of Foxtopus Ink, where she runs the audio division and oversees the creation and development of shows such as Wild Thing and The Syndicate. Laura has been in audio for well over a decade—she recently served as the interim science editor for PRX, which included editing work on the Smithsonian’s Sidedoor and Air/Space podcasts, and her writing has appeared in Popular Science, Smithsonian Magazine, Outside, High Country News and Newsweek.

Elliot Kukla (he/they) is a rabbi, author, and activist. He is a regular guest contributor to the New York Times and his activism has been featured by National Geographic, Now This News, Them, NBC, Reuters, and many other publications. In 2006 he was the first openly transgender rabbi to be ordained by a movement in Judaism. In 2019 he was named one of the 50 most influential Jews of the year by The Forward. You can find Elliot at www.elliotkukla.com

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Melanie LaBarge has a B.A. in Women’s Studies and an M.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research includes performance art and queering memoir by contemporary female/femme/non-binary writers. Her first children’s book, Women Artists A-Z, was published by Dial Books for Young Readers in February 2020.

An Academy Awards-winning actress for her roles in Tootsie and Blue Sky, Lange is also the recipient of the Triple Crown of Acting: three Emmys, five Golden Globes, and one Tony award. She currently stars on the hit FX show American Horror Story.

Francie  Latour  is a prize-winning writer whose work explores issues of race, culture, and identity. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, the Today  Show, The Root, Essence, and the  Boston Globe. Her writing was also anthologized in The Butterfly’s Way, edited by Edwidge Danticat. Francie is co-founder and co-director of Wee The People, a social justice project for kids. This is her first picture book.

A mother of three, Francie was born in the US to Haitian parents. Francie and her family live in Boston.