Anna Sortino
Anna Sortino is the award-winning author of On the Bright Side and Give Me a Sign. She writes stories about disabled characters living their lives and falling in love. Find more at AnnaSortino.com.
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Jen Ferguson
Jen Ferguson (she/her/hers) Métis (on her father's side) and Canadian settler (on her mother's side) is an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice armed with a PhD. She believes writing, teaching and beading are political acts. She is represented by Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
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Her debut young adult novel, THE SUMMER OF BITTER AND SWEET, is forthcoming from Heartdrum / Harper Collins in the summer of 2022. Her first book for adults, Border Markers, a collection of interrelated flash fiction stories, is out now with NeWest Press.
She lives and works in Los Angeles.
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Sydney Langford
Sydney Langford (they/them) is a queer, Deaf-Hard of Hearing, and physically disabled author who resides in Portland, Oregon. Their biggest passion in life is creating stories that reflect the diverse world we live in—whether that be rom-coms about quirky, disabled teens; or contemporaries that feature queer joy. Their debut YA novel THE LOUDEST SILENCE will be released 7/30/2024 by Holiday House and their YA rom-com SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT will be released in 2026.
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Louise Gornall
Louise Gornall was a young adult author, mental health mouth, lover of cheese, collector of book boyfriends, film nerd, book bird, identical twin, and rumoured pink Power Ranger.
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Julia Lawrinson
Julia Lawrinson is an Australian writer of children's and young adult fiction. Her debut novel Obsession (Fremantle Press, 2001) won the Western Australian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Writing: since then her work has been shortlisted for numerous awards. Her latest book for young adults is Before You Forget (PenguinRandomHouse 2017). Her latest novel for children is Mel and Shell (Fremantle Press 2021), and in 2023 she published her first picture book, City of Light (ill. Heather Potter and Mark Jackson) with Wild Dog Books. Her memoir, How To Avoid A Happy Life, is out with Fremantle Press.
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Mariko Turk
Mariko Turk grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in creative writing. She received her PhD from the University of Florida with a concentration in children's literature. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Colorado, where she enjoys tea, walks, and stories of all kinds. She is the author of The Other Side of Perfect (a 2022 YALSA best YA fiction pick) and I'll Be Waiting for You (coming April 30, 2024).
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For updates, follow her on Instagram @marikoturk or sign up for her monthly newsletter here! https://www.marikoturk.com/ -
Anna Jarzab
Anna Jarzab is the author of All Unquiet Things, The Opposite of Hallelujah, Tandem, Tether, Red Dirt, and Breath Like Water. She lives in New York City and works in children's book publishing. Visit her online at www.annajarzab.com and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram @ajarzab.
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Sona Charaipotra
The author of the YA doc dramedy Symptoms of a Heartbreak, SONA CHARAIPOTRA is not a doctor — much to her pediatrician parents’ chagrin. They were really hoping she’d grow up to take over their practice one day.
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Instead, she became a writer, working first as a celebrity reporter at People and (the dearly departed) TeenPeople magazines, and more recently contributing to publications from the New York Times to TeenVogue. She was also the editor of the Barnes & Noble Teen blog. These days, she uses her Masters in screenwriting from NYU and her MFA in creative writing from the New School to poke plot holes in her favorite teen TV shows — for work of course. She’s the co-founder of CAKE Literary, a boutique book packaging company with a decidedly -
Patricia Park
Patricia Park is the author of the award-winning novel, Re Jane, a Korean American retelling of Brontë’s Jane Eyre; and the YA novels, Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim, and the forthcoming, What’s Eating Jackie Oh? She is a tenured professor of creative writing at American University, a Fulbright scholar, an Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence, Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, and other awards. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Guardian, and others. She was born and raised in Queens.
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Stanley Tookie Williams
Stanley Tookie Williams III was a leader of the Crips, a notorious American street gang which had its roots in South Central Los Angeles in 1969.
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In 1979 he was convicted of four murders committed in the course of robberies, sentenced to death, and eventually executed. Once incarcerated, he authored several books, including anti-gang and anti-violence literature and children's books. -
Becky Dean
Becky Dean is a fan of adventures both real and fictional. When she’s not writing or traveling, she can be found drinking tea, watching science fiction shows, or quoting The Lord of the Rings. Though she lives in Texas with her husband, she remains a Southern California girl at heart.
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Hannah Moskowitz
Hannah Moskowitz wrote her first story, about a kitten named Lilly on the run from cat hunters, for a contest when she was seven years old. It was disqualified for violence. Her first book, BREAK, was on the ALA's 2010 list of Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, and in 2013, GONE, GONE, GONE received a Stonewall Honor. 2015's NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED was named the YA Bisexual Book of the Year. SICK KIDS IN LOVE was a Sydney Taylor Honoree, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and one of both Kirkus and Tablet Magazine's Best Books of the year. She lives in Maryland with several cats, none of whom are violent.
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Jorge Aguirre
Jorge A. Aguirre is an East Coast-based writer born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He wrote the graphic novel, GIANTS BEWARE (First Second Books/Macmillan), which the New York Times called, a "rollicking fun story." He also wrote its sequel, DRAGONS BEWARE (May 2015). He has already written the third book of the CHRONICLES OF CLAUDETTE. Besides books, Jorge also produces and writes TV for kids. He's worked for Disney, Junior, Nick, Jr., and PBS.
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Kasie West
I write YA and adult romance novels. I eat chocolate cinnamon bears. Sometimes I go crazy and do both at the same time. A few of my works are: SUNKISSED, PS I LIKE YOU, MOMENT OF TRUTH, WE MET LIKE THIS, and more. My agent is the talented and funny Michelle Wolfson.
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Maya Van Wagenen
Maya Van Wagenen lives in the Atlanta area with her fiancée, three cats, and a dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys quilting, knitting, costume design, reading, and binge-watching detective procedural dramas.
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At fifteen, Maya became a New York Times bestselling author after Penguin Dutton published her eighth-grade journal—Popular. The book went on to win the American Library Association’s YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction, making her the youngest author and first memoirist to receive this honor. Maya’s second book and first novel, Chronically Dolores, is inspired by her experiences as a young person with an incurable bladder condition. Maya is passionate about bringing visibility to youth with chronic illness and validating the qu -
Jeff Zentner
Jeff Zentner is the author of The Serpent King, which Kirkus Reviews named one of the best books of the 21st Century, as well as In the Wild Light, Goodbye Days, Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee, Colton Gentry's Third Act, and Sunrise Nights, coauthored with Brittany Cavallaro. He has two books—Wayfarers and Love, Like Apples—forthcoming in 2026.
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Among other honors, he has won the ALA’s William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award twice, the Muriel Becker Award, the International Literacy Association Award, been longlisted twice for the Carnegie Medal, and is a two-time Southern Book Prize finalist.
His books have been translated into fifteen languages and been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and in Vanity Fa -
Melanie Sumrow
MELANIE SUMROW is the award-winning author of Girls Like Her, The Inside Battle, and The Prophet Calls. Before turning her attention to writing, she worked as a lawyer for more than sixteen years, many of her cases involving children and teens. She received her MFA in Writing from Hamline University and lives in Dallas. You can visit her online at melaniesumrow.com.
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Emma Lord
Emma Lord is an NYT bestselling author of rom coms for teens and adults, a BuzzFeed senior writer, and dessert gremlin living in New York City. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. Her sun sign is Cancer and her moon sign is whatever Taylor Swift song is about to pop up on shuffle.
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Tashie Bhuiyan
Tashie Bhuiyan is the author of Counting Down with You, A Show for Two, Stay with My Heart, and I'll Pretend You're Mine. She is a New Yorker through and through, and hopes to change the world, one book at a time. She loves writing stories about gaining agency through growth and surviving against all odds. When she's not doing that, she's probably traveling, attending a concert, or bothering her cat, Zuko.
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Bethany Mangle
Bethany Mangle is the author of the young adult contemporary novels PREPPED and ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. Her third book, CONDITIONS OF A HEART, is forthcoming in February 2024. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spoiling her dog, playing video games, and spending time with her unbearably nerdy husband. She moves too much to put a location in her bio ever again.
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Bethany is represented by Jennifer Wills and Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
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I don't add readers as friends on Goodreads because of Amazon's policy on reviews. Please follow me instead. I'm also active on Twitter and Instagram @bethanymangle. Thanks for your understanding! -
Hannah Reynolds
Hi everyone! I'm Hannah Reynolds, the author of A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DATING A DEMON, a cozy romantasy out Spring 2026. I'm also the author of the GOLDEN DOORS series, three contemporary romances filled with family secrets and history set on the New England island of Nantucket.
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Samantha Markum
Samantha Markum is the USA Today bestselling author of Love, Off the Record, You Wouldn't Dare, and This May End Badly. She was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where she got her great literary start writing Newsies fan fiction in middle school. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing cozy video games, attempting to revive her half-dead house plants, and getting in bed before sunset. When she is writing, you can find her staring at the wall in search of inspiration. Visit her at samanthamarkum.com.
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Serena Kaylor
Thirty-something-year-old with a love of all things sparkly, over-dramatic, and pizza-related. Serena writes books about awkward teens, the chaotic world of theater, found families, Shakespeare himself, and a sprinkle of kisses.
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Anna Gracia
Anna Gracia is a former Division I athlete and tennis coach who now excels at snacking while yelling advice at the TV. Her weaknesses include crying at movies, running long distances, and temperatures over 70 degrees. Her debut YA novel, Boys I Know, was both an ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next pick, and was featured in The New York Times, Paste, Seventeen, and more. See more at anna-gracia.com.
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Claire Forrest
Claire Forrest is a novelist and essayist who holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Where You See Yourself is based on her lived experience as a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. As an undergraduate at Grinnell College, she was a consultant for the Disability Services and Admissions offices, working directly to address the concerns of incoming college students with disabilities and their families.
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She lives in Minneapolis, where when she’s not writing, she spends her time swimming and planning where to travel next. Find out more about her on Instagram and Twitter at @claire4est. -
Jackie Khalilieh
JACKIE KHALILIEH is a Palestinian-Canadian writer with a love of nineties pop culture, Dad jokes, and warm and fuzzy romance. Like many autistic females, she received her diagnosis as an adult. She is passionate about positive representation within her writing. She currently resides just outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and two daughters, complaining nightly about having to cook dinner. Something More is her debut YA novel.
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Please note: As an author, I use Goodreads mostly to keep track of the books I want to read.
I don't check/accept friend requests from readers/people on Goodreads who I don't know, as I feel that may blur the lines. I hope you understand. Thank-you!
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Sydney Langford
Sydney Langford (they/them) is a queer, Deaf-Hard of Hearing, and physically disabled author who resides in Portland, Oregon. Their biggest passion in life is creating stories that reflect the diverse world we live in—whether that be rom-coms about quirky, disabled teens; or contemporaries that feature queer joy. Their debut YA novel THE LOUDEST SILENCE will be released 7/30/2024 by Holiday House and their YA rom-com SOMEONE TO DAYDREAM ABOUT will be released in 2026.
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Chatham Greenfield
Chatham Greenfield is an award winning author and romance enthusiast. Their debut novel, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, received a Stonewall Honor Award, was named a best queer book of the year by Autostraddle, and was a LitUp by Reese’s Book Club pick. Their second novel, TRY YOUR WORST, comes out September 2025 and their third novel, LIKE A LADY, comes out early 2027.
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Josh Galarza
Josh Galarza writes fiction and creative nonfiction and is a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking, book arts, and sculpture. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky, was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University, a BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a BA in English from the University of Nevada, Reno. He lives in Northern Nevada and is the three-time reigning world champion of extreme trampoline air-drumming, a sport he invented himself.
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Kelly Murashige
Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Kelly Murashige (she/her) is a writer, reader, and dreamer. She specializes in contemporary fiction with fantastical twists based on Japanese mythology and culture. Though she can be shy, she loves obsessing over books and video games.
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Her debut YA contemporary fantasy novel, THE LOST SOULS OF BENZAITEN, released on July 23, 2024 with Soho Teen. Her sophomore YA speculative novel, THE YOMIGAERI TUNNEL, released on July 1, 2025 with Soho Teen.
You can see more at her website, https://www.kellymurashige.com/, and check out her newsletter at https://kellymurashige.substack.com/.
Please note: This Goodreads account is not closely monitored. If you would like to contact this author, please do so on her website. Thank you -
A.J. Steiger
A. J. Steiger graduated from Columbia College in Chicago, where she majored in fiction writing. She has lived her whole life in the Chicago suburbs, though she enjoys regular visits to other galaxies and dimensions in her mind. She's a freelance writer and transcriptionist with an enthusiasm for anime and pancake houses.
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Mindwalker is her first book for young adults. -
Beth Nimmo
Beth Nimmo is the mother of Rachel Scott, the first victim killed at Columbine High School. Beth is the author of The Journals of Rachel Scott.
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Hannah Moskowitz
Hannah Moskowitz wrote her first story, about a kitten named Lilly on the run from cat hunters, for a contest when she was seven years old. It was disqualified for violence. Her first book, BREAK, was on the ALA's 2010 list of Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, and in 2013, GONE, GONE, GONE received a Stonewall Honor. 2015's NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED was named the YA Bisexual Book of the Year. SICK KIDS IN LOVE was a Sydney Taylor Honoree, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and one of both Kirkus and Tablet Magazine's Best Books of the year. She lives in Maryland with several cats, none of whom are violent.
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Kelly McWilliams
Kelly is the mixed-race author of AGNES AT THE END OF THE WORLD (2020), MIRROR GIRLS (2022), and YOUR PLANTATION PROM IS NOT OKAY (2023). AGNES was a finalist for the Golden Kite Award. She's also written for Time, Publisher's Weekly, and Bustle, among other outlets. She lives in Seattle with her family.
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Claire Forrest
Claire Forrest is a novelist and essayist who holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Where You See Yourself is based on her lived experience as a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. As an undergraduate at Grinnell College, she was a consultant for the Disability Services and Admissions offices, working directly to address the concerns of incoming college students with disabilities and their families.
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She lives in Minneapolis, where when she’s not writing, she spends her time swimming and planning where to travel next. Find out more about her on Instagram and Twitter at @claire4est. -
Cambria Gordon
Cambria Gordon is the author of The Poetry of Secrets (Scholastic, 2021). She is the co-author of The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming, winner of the national Green Earth Book Award. She has written for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Boys' Life, Parent Guide News, and The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. Her one-act play, Within Reach, was produced by Jewish Women's Theatre. She lived in Spain for a year, but spends most of her time in Los Angeles with her husband and youngest son while being as near as possible to her two adult children without annoying them.
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Hannah Reynolds
Hi everyone! I'm Hannah Reynolds, the author of A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DATING A DEMON, a cozy romantasy out Spring 2026. I'm also the author of the GOLDEN DOORS series, three contemporary romances filled with family secrets and history set on the New England island of Nantucket.
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Laura Tims
Laura Tims is the author of PLEASE DON'T TELL (2016) and THE ART OF FEELING (8/25/2017), both from HarperCollins. She's a mental health advocate, an arts & crafter, and lives in San Diego with a bunny named Noodle. Find her on Twitter @laura_tims.
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Cammie McGovern
Cammie McGovern was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and received the Nelson Algren Award in short fiction. Her work has been published in Redbook, Seventeen, Glimmer Train, TriQuarterly, and other publications.
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Lila Riesen
LILA RIESEN is the author of Rainsong (2026) and Free Radicals (2023), which Publishers Weekly called “an emphatic and empathetic debut.” The daughter of Afghan and Australian immigrants, she lives in Irvine, California with her husband and son.
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https://www.lilariesen.com/ -
Francine Patterson
Francine "Penny" Patterson is an American animal psychologist. She is best known for teaching a modified form of American Sign Language, which she calls "Gorilla Sign Language", or GSL, to a gorilla named Koko beginning in 1972.
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Melanie Sumrow
MELANIE SUMROW is the award-winning author of Girls Like Her, The Inside Battle, and The Prophet Calls. Before turning her attention to writing, she worked as a lawyer for more than sixteen years, many of her cases involving children and teens. She received her MFA in Writing from Hamline University and lives in Dallas. You can visit her online at melaniesumrow.com.
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Paul Griffin
Paul Griffin lives, writes, and trains dogs in New York City. His previous novel, The Orange Houses, was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults Top Ten, an International Reading Association 2010 Notable Book for a Global Society, a Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Book of 2009, and an Amelia Bloomer Project Award winner.
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Maya Van Wagenen
Maya Van Wagenen lives in the Atlanta area with her fiancée, three cats, and a dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys quilting, knitting, costume design, reading, and binge-watching detective procedural dramas.
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At fifteen, Maya became a New York Times bestselling author after Penguin Dutton published her eighth-grade journal—Popular. The book went on to win the American Library Association’s YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction, making her the youngest author and first memoirist to receive this honor. Maya’s second book and first novel, Chronically Dolores, is inspired by her experiences as a young person with an incurable bladder condition. Maya is passionate about bringing visibility to youth with chronic illness and validating the qu -
Serena Kaylor
Thirty-something-year-old with a love of all things sparkly, over-dramatic, and pizza-related. Serena writes books about awkward teens, the chaotic world of theater, found families, Shakespeare himself, and a sprinkle of kisses.
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Patrick Flores-Scott
Patrick Flores-Scott is the acclaimed author of the award-winning novels Jumped In and American Road Trip, which was named a YALSA Best Fiction Book, a TAYSHAS Reading List Selection, an SLJ National Hispanic Heritage Month pick, and a Teen Vogue Best Gift Book, and was licensed to WEBTOON for graphic digital serialization. Patrick taught public school in Seattle, Washington, for many years and has written for theater and the slam poetry stage. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his family and invites you to visit him online at patrickfloresscott.com.
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Sarah Darer Littman
Sarah Darer Littman is an award-winning author of books for teens. She lives in Connecticut, in a house that never seems to have enough bookshelves.
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Paula Stokes
*** Please contact me via the contact information on my website: authorpaulastokes.com ***
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Paula Stokes is half writer, half RN, and totally thrilled to be part of the world of YA literature. She started out writing historical fiction under a pen name and is now branching out into other YA genres.
When she's not working (rare), she's kayaking, hiking, reading, or seeking out new adventures in faraway lands. She's petted tigers, snuggled snakes, snorkeled with stingrays, and once enjoyed the suction-cuppy feel of a baby elephant's trunk as it ate peanuts from her palm. Her future goals include diving with Great White sharks, learning Krav Maga, and writing a whole slew of novels, not necessarily in that order. -
Candice Jalili
Candice Jalili is an Iranian American writer whose work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, The Cut, Rolling Stone, Elite Daily, and more. Candice lives in New York City with her husband, where she is a convenient walk away from her cousins and childhood best friend. She grew up in the Bay Area and spends hours of her days FaceTiming her parents there.
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Ream Shukairy
Ream Shukairy is a Syrian American Muslim born and raised full-time in Orange County, California and part-time over summers in Syria. Whether in California or Syria, she feels at home where her family is and wherever there’s a beach. She has a talent for learning languages and is always on the search for the next place she can travel and flex her words. The daughter of immigrants, there isn’t a stereotype she won’t try her hardest to defy. She can be found reading at the beach, with her sisters watching anime, or playing volleyball really anywhere. She currently resides in Boston for graduate school.
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Bethany Mangle
Bethany Mangle is the author of the young adult contemporary novels PREPPED and ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. Her third book, CONDITIONS OF A HEART, is forthcoming in February 2024. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spoiling her dog, playing video games, and spending time with her unbearably nerdy husband. She moves too much to put a location in her bio ever again.
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Bethany is represented by Jennifer Wills and Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
Note:
I don't add readers as friends on Goodreads because of Amazon's policy on reviews. Please follow me instead. I'm also active on Twitter and Instagram @bethanymangle. Thanks for your understanding! -
Farah Naz Rishi
Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she’s worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s probably hanging out with video game characters. You can find her at home in Philadelphia, or on Twitter at @far_ah_way.
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Laura Brown
After spending her childhood coming up with new episodes to her favorite sitcoms instead of sleeping, Laura Brown decided to try her hand at writing and never looked back. A hopeless romantic, she’s been drawn to love stories since a young age. She lives in Massachusetts with her family, and yes, that includes feline members! Laura’s been hard of hearing her entire life but didn’t start learning ASL until college, when her disability morphed from an inconvenience to a positive part of her identity. It’s important to her to create strong, competent characters with disabilities, as she didn’t have that growing up. At home the closed captioning is always on, lights flash with the doorbell, and hearing aids are sometimes optional.
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Kimberly Gabriel
Kimberly Gabriel started writing in fourth grade when she wrote, bound, and gave away books of terrible poetry to family and teachers as holiday gifts. Today she is an English teacher, who still squanders all free minutes to write and uses it as the best scapegoat for her laundry avoidance issues. When she is not teaching or writing, Kimberly is enjoying life with her husband and her three beautiful children in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Her debut, Every Stolen Breath, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and the winner of the International Literacy Association’s Children’s and Young Adult Book Award in Young Adult Fiction.
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Wendy Brant
At age ten, Wendy Brant wrote her first book, My Mysterious Double, the story of a girl and an impostor pretending to be her. Years later, after graduating with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and completing the Publishing Institute at the University of Denver, Wendy wrote adult fiction (albeit unpublished) while working as an HR manager and being a mom. But when she started reading the same YA books as her kids, her attention and passion shifted. Now she likes to write about isolated teenagers who somehow find a way to connect with others, and she's also a sucker for a little romance.
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Wendy lives in the Chicago area in the best neighborhood in America (as crowned by Good Morning America in 2010) with her husband, teenage -
Anna Meriano
I grew up in Houston with an older brother and a younger brother and a large but close-knit network of aunts, uncles, and cousins spreading across the state of Texas. I graduated from Rice University with a degree in English, and earned my MFA in creative writing with an emphasis in writing for children from the New School in New York. There I was lucky to meet CAKE Literary founders Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra, who started me on the Love Sugar Magic journey.
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I live in Houston with my dog Cisco. I have taught creative writing and high school English and currently work as a tutor for students of all ages across Houston. In my free time I love knitting, playing full-contact quidditch, and singing along to songs in English, Spanish, -
Abigail Johnson
Abigail Johnson was born in Pennsylvania. When she was twelve, her family traded in snowstorms for year-round summers and moved to Arizona. Abigail chronicled the entire cross-country road trip in a purple spiral-bound notebook that she still has, and has been writing ever since. She became a tetraplegic after breaking her neck in a car accident when she was seventeen, but hasn’t let that stop her from bodysurfing in Mexico, writing and directing a high-school production of Cinderella, and riding roller coasters every chance she gets. She is the author of several young adult novels including If I Fix You and Every Other Weekend.
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Jennifer Yu
Jennifer Yu is the author of three young adult novels, including the forthcoming Grief in the Fourth Dimension. When not writing, you can find her weeping intermittently about the Boston Celtics, photos of the Earth from outer space, and the etymology of the word disaster. She has hopscotched across New England, Southern California, the Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest, but is perhaps happiest when living out of the trunk of her Toyota Corolla. She earned her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Yolanda Ridge
Yolanda Ridge is a middle grade author and science writer from British Columbia, Canada.
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Sharon Huss Roat
Sharon Huss Roat grew up in Lancaster County, Pa., and now divides her time between Delaware, USA, and Malmesbury, UK. She is the author of HarperTeen novels BETWEEN THE NOTES (June 2015) and HOW TO DISAPPEAR (August 2017). Visit her online at www.sharonroat.com or Instagram @sharonhussroat.
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Natasha Sinel
Natasha Sinel is a writer of young adult fiction. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English and from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business with an M.B.A. Before beginning her career as an author, she was director of business development at Showtime Networks. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., she now lives in Northern Westchester, New York with her husband and three sons.
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Anna Gracia
Anna Gracia is a former Division I athlete and tennis coach who now excels at snacking while yelling advice at the TV. Her weaknesses include crying at movies, running long distances, and temperatures over 70 degrees. Her debut YA novel, Boys I Know, was both an ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next pick, and was featured in The New York Times, Paste, Seventeen, and more. See more at anna-gracia.com.
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Lizzy Mason
Lizzy Mason grew up in northern Virginia before moving to New York City for college and a career in publishing. Now back in Virginia with her two cats, when not reading or writing, Lizzy loves to travel. She has visited forty-five states and eleven countries so far. She is the author of The Art of Losing, Between the Bliss and Me, and Remind Me to Hate You Later. Find her online at LizzyMasonBooks.com and on Instagram at @LizzyMasonBooks.
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Ronni Davis
Ronni Davis grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where she tried her best to fit in—and failed miserably. After graduating from The Ohio State University with a BA in Psychology, she worked in insurance, taught yoga, and became a cat mom.
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Now she lives in Chicago, where by day she copy edits everything from TV commercials to billboards, and by night she writes contemporary YA about brown girls falling in love. When she’s not writing, you can catch her playing the Sims, eating too much candy, or planning her next trip to Disney World. -
Kelly Murashige
Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Kelly Murashige (she/her) is a writer, reader, and dreamer. She specializes in contemporary fiction with fantastical twists based on Japanese mythology and culture. Though she can be shy, she loves obsessing over books and video games.
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Her debut YA contemporary fantasy novel, THE LOST SOULS OF BENZAITEN, released on July 23, 2024 with Soho Teen. Her sophomore YA speculative novel, THE YOMIGAERI TUNNEL, released on July 1, 2025 with Soho Teen.
You can see more at her website, https://www.kellymurashige.com/, and check out her newsletter at https://kellymurashige.substack.com/.
Please note: This Goodreads account is not closely monitored. If you would like to contact this author, please do so on her website. Thank you -
Maya Ameyaw
Maya Ameyaw is a Ghanaian Canadian author born and raised in Toronto. Her debut novel When It All Syncs Up was selected as one of Kirkus’s best books of 2023 in the young adult category. She is a former bookseller and currently works as a writing instructor. Maya has edited several literary anthologies for community arts programs.
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In her free time, Maya enjoys hanging out with her adorable dwarf rabbit and devouring as many books as possible. She also loves exploring all the bookstores that Toronto has to offer. -
Kati Gardner
Kati is a recovering actor who has spent the last few years keeping tiny humans alive. In high school she was determined to play a doctor on General Hospital and possibly add in a love story with Jonathan Jackson. She would spend hours toiling away on FanFiction for my AOL community and dreaming of the day she would accept a Daytime Emmy Award. In college she majored in Theater arts and spent lots of time hanging out in the box office.
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Before any of that happened though, Kati had cancer. She was eight. She responded to chemotherapy and had an amputation of her entire left leg. She still advocates for childhood cancer research and accessibility for all individual with disabilities.
Kati is married, has two great girls, and a posse of furry fr -
Daven McQueen
Daven McQueen is the author of “The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones,” a novel for young adults. They live in Massachusetts with their partner and dog, where they organize with their neighbors to build working-class power, teach English at a community college, edit for an abolitionist magazine, and, on occasion, write.
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Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang is a writer and reality TV enthusiast living in New York City. He studied computer science at the University of Chicago and has a day job as a coder. Andrew is a devoted fan of the writer Elena Ferrante, whose Neapolitan Novels are his favorite book series. He enjoys studying languages, rooting for his favorite sports teams, and trying new recipes with his air fryer. He is the author of I'm Not Here to Make Friends and The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown.
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Deborah Crossland
Deborah Crossland (she/her) teaches English and mythology at her local community college and writes myth-based, contemporary novels with a feminist bent for young adults. She is passionate about making education accessible for everyone and makes sure her students pay nothing out of pocket. She lives in Northern California with her husband and her daughter's very spoiled, retired service dog.
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Rebecca Tingle
Rebecca Tingle was born in Utah as the oldest child in a large family - three boys and five girls. She grew up reading armfuls of novels from the Orem Public Library, riding horses, acquiring as many pets as her parents would allow (three dogs, three cats, two budgies, a hermit crab, and various reptiles and amphibians), hiking the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains with her brothers, and training in classical ballet.
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Upon graduating from high school, she began a short professional ballet career with Ballet West and also pursued a B.A. in English at the University of Utah. After earning an M.A. in English with a medieval specialization at Brigham Young University, she went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar to study Old English lite -
Melinda Grace
Melinda Grace wrote her first piece of fiction in middle school, but didn't write a complete story until an introduction to creative writing course at State University of New York at Oswego, where she earned a BA in human development. She went on to earn a MS Ed in counseling from Alfred University and currently works as an elementary school counselor. She loves sunshine, ice cream sandwiches, and anything Disney. Her debut novel Meet Me in Outer Space is an #OwnVoices story.
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