Carolina Ixta
Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, she received her B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and obtained her Master's degree in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently an elementary school teacher whose pedagogy centers critical race theory at the primary education level. Shut Up, This is Serious is her debut novel.
If you like author Carolina Ixta here is the list of authors you may also like
Buy books on AmazonTotal similar authors (64)
-
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.
Buy books on Amazon
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.
--
Visit her website to subscribe to News from the Michif Creamery, an occasional (seasonally or less) newsletter, for a chance to win The Summer of Bi -
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.
Buy books on Amazon -
Yasmin Ramirez
Yasmin Ramirez is a 2021 Martha's Institute of Creative Writing Author Fellow as well as a 2020 recipient of the Woody and Gayle Hunt-Aspen Institute Fellowship Award. Her fiction/CNF works have appeared in Cream City Review and Huizache among others.
Buy books on Amazon
She is an Assistant Professor of English, Creative Writing, and Chicanx Literature at El Paso Community College. She stays active in the Borderplex arts community and serves on the advisory board of BorderSenses, a literary non-profit. Her memoir ¡Ándale, Prieta!, by Lee and Low Books, is now available. -
Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Raquel Vasquez Gilliland is a Mexican American poet, novelist, and painter. She received an MFA in poetry from the University of Alaska, Anchorage in 2017. She’s most inspired by fog and seeds and the lineages of all things. When not writing, Raquel tells stories to her plants and they tell her stories back. She lives in Tennessee with her beloved family and mountains. Raquel has published two books of poetry. Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything is her first novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
Meredith Adamo
Meredith Adamo (she/her) is an author based in North Carolina, but she's originally from Rochester, New York, which is her favorite place on the planet. Her debut novel NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS was the recipient of the 2025 William C. Morris YA Debut Award and the Southern Book Prize for Young Readers, and it was named a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, a BookPage Best Young Adult Book of 2024, a May/June Kids' Indie Next List pick, and the May 2024 Target YA Book Club pick.
Buy books on Amazon
Her non-writing interests include collecting vintage bakeware, crocheting the ugliest blankets you've ever seen, and grocery shopping. -
Dinesh Thiru
Dinesh Thiru is a writer and stay-at-home dad currently living in Barcelona. He grew up in North Carolina, married his college sweetheart from the University of Pennsylvania, and spent over a decade in San Francisco. Dinesh is half-Indian, half-white. He loves the ocean. He used to have other interests, but he swapped them for kids. Those kids are seven, four, and a dog. Find him at DineshThiru.com or TikTok.com/@dineshmt9.
Buy books on Amazon -
Madeline Claire Franklin
Madeline Claire Franklin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts WCYA program. When she is not writing strange fiction for young adults, she is probably attempting to dismantle the patriarchy and/or practicing witchcraft. She lives in sin in Buffalo, NY, with her partner, two dogs, three cats, and two Roombas, in a little yellow house called Cluckleberry Farms. Her debut novel, THE WILDERNESS OF GIRLS, was released June 2024 by Zando Projects.
Buy books on Amazon -
Matt Mendez
Matt Mendez is the author of Barely Missing Everything, his debut novel, and the short story collection Twitching Heart. Barely Missing Everything has been called a “searing portrait of two Mexican-American families” by Publishers Weekly and “accessible and artful” in a stared review by Kirkus. The New York Times says [Mendez] “has an uncanny ability to capture the aimless bluster of young boys posturing at confidence.”
Buy books on Amazon
Barely Missing Everything was named a 2019 Best YA Book by Kirkus, Seventeen Magazine, NBC Latino, and Texas Monthly. It was a Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers Nominee, awarded second place in the International Latino Book Awards, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a Land of Enchantment Black Bear Book Award winn -
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).
Buy books on Amazon
For updates, follow her on Instagram @marikoturk or sign up for her monthly newsletter here! https://www.marikoturk.com/ -
Randy Ribay
Randy Ribay is an award-winning author of young adult fiction. His most recent novel, Patron Saints of Nothing, earned five starred reviews, was selected as a Freeman Book Award winner, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, LA Times Book Prize, Walden Book Award, Edgar Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His other works include Project Kawayan, After the Shot Drops, and An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. His next novels, The Chronicles of the Avatar: The Reckoning of Roku (Abrams) and Everything We Never Had, (Kokila/Penguin) will be out in 2024.
Buy books on Amazon
Born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest, Randy earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and h -
David Levithan
David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.
Buy books on Amazon -
Marcia Argueta Mickelson
Marcia Mickelson was born in Guatemala and moved to the U.S. as an infant. She began writing her first novel her senior year of high school and finished it more than ten years later.
Buy books on Amazon
Marcia graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelors Degree in American Studies. She is the author of YA novels The Huaca and Where I Belong.
She has also written 3 inspirational women's novels: Star Shining Brightly, Reasonable Doubt, and Pickup Games.
Marcia currently resides in Texas with her husband and three sons. -
Paula Yoo
Paula Yoo is an acclaimed book author, TV writer/producer, and musician. Her children’s and Young Adult nonfiction books and novels have won many awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature, ALA-YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, the Asian Pacific American Youth Literature Award, several IRA Notables and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections, plus many starred reviews.
Buy books on Amazon
Her latest YA nonfiction book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE, was published on May 7, 2024 by Norton Young Readers (W.W. Norton & Co.). It was selected as a Junior Library Guil -
Isaac Blum
Isaac Blum (he/him) is a writer and educator. He’s taught English at several colleges and universities, and at Orthodox Jewish and public schools. He lives with his wife in Philadelphia where he watches sports and reads books that make him laugh while showing him something true about the world. The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is his debut novel. You can visit Isaac online at isaacblumauthor.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @isaacblum_
Buy books on Amazon -
Sara Farizan
Sara Farizan (1984, Massachusetts).
Buy books on Amazon
Her parents immigrated from Iran in the seventies, her father a surgeon and her mother a homemaker. Sara grew up feeling different in her private high school not only because of her ethnicity but also because of her liking girls romantically, her lack of excitement in science and math, and her love of writing plays and short stories. So she came out of the closet in college, realized math and science weren’t so bad (but not for her), and decided she wanted to be a writer. She is an MFA graduate of Lesley University and holds a BA in film and media studies from American University. Sara has been a Hollywood intern, a waitress, a comic book/record store employee, an art magazine blogger, a marketing temp, a -
Bryan Bliss
Bryan Bliss is the author of No Parking at the End Times, Meet Me Here, and We’ll Fly Away, which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award. He lives in Saint Paul, MN with his family.
Buy books on Amazon
You can visit him online at www.bryanbliss.com and on Facebook and Twitter. -
Andrew Maraniss
Andrew Maraniss is the New York Times bestselling author of STRONG INSIDE, a biography of Perry Wallace, the first African American basketball player in the SEC. The original, adult edition of the book received the Lillian Smith Book Award and the RFK Book Awards' Special Recognition Prize, while the Middle Grade adaptation was named one of the Top Biographies and Top Sports Books for Youth by the American Library Association. Andrew's next book (Nov. 2019) GAMES OF DECEPTION, is the true story of the first U.S. Olympic basketball team, at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. Andrew is a contributor to ESPN's race and sports website, TheUndefeated.com, and is a Visiting Author at Vanderbilt University Athletics. He lives in Brentwood, Tenn.,
Buy books on Amazon -
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.
Buy books on Amazon
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. -
K.A. Cobell
K.A. Cobell, Staa’tssipisstaakii, is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she spends her time writing books, chasing her kids through the never-ending rain, and scouring the inlet beaches for sand dollars and hermit crabs. LOOKING FOR SMOKE, a Reese's Book Club pick, is her debut novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
DeAndra Davis
DeAndra, an autistic and neurodivergent Jamaican-American author, has been reading since she could remember and writing since anyone put a pen in her hand. When she isn't delving into fantasy worlds or scaring herself with thrilling tales, she is playing some role-playing game (probably The Witcher series). A young adult novelist, she enjoys exploring the intersections of different identities as much as she enjoys exploring her own.
Buy books on Amazon
DeAndra graduated with her BA in English Literature from Minot State University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. She is an Instructor of English at Florida Atlantic University where she regularly teaches creative writing, literature, and composition courses.
She is a married -
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.
Buy books on Amazon -
Meredith Adamo
Meredith Adamo (she/her) is an author based in North Carolina, but she's originally from Rochester, New York, which is her favorite place on the planet. Her debut novel NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS was the recipient of the 2025 William C. Morris YA Debut Award and the Southern Book Prize for Young Readers, and it was named a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, a BookPage Best Young Adult Book of 2024, a May/June Kids' Indie Next List pick, and the May 2024 Target YA Book Club pick.
Buy books on Amazon
Her non-writing interests include collecting vintage bakeware, crocheting the ugliest blankets you've ever seen, and grocery shopping. -
Randy Ribay
Randy Ribay is an award-winning author of young adult fiction. His most recent novel, Patron Saints of Nothing, earned five starred reviews, was selected as a Freeman Book Award winner, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, LA Times Book Prize, Walden Book Award, Edgar Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His other works include Project Kawayan, After the Shot Drops, and An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. His next novels, The Chronicles of the Avatar: The Reckoning of Roku (Abrams) and Everything We Never Had, (Kokila/Penguin) will be out in 2024.
Buy books on Amazon
Born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest, Randy earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and h -
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.
Buy books on Amazon
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 -
Samuel Teer
Samuel Teer was born to a deaf maintenance worker and an immigrant that spoke English as a distant second language. Obviously he became a writer. He was raised outside of St. Louis, MO. He currently lives outside of Denver, CO with his wife Andrea (an educator) and their two dogs Roxie and Olive.
Buy books on Amazon -
-
Olivia A. Cole
Olivia Cole is an author and blogger from Louisville, Kentucky. She spent eight years in Chicago and two in South Florida before finding her way back home. She is the author of PANTHER IN THE HIVE and its sequel, THE ROOSTER’S GARDEN, as well as her latest young adult series, A CONSPIRACY OF STARS and its sequel AN ANATOMY OF BEASTS. She is on the Creative Writing faculty at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts and is the founder of the sci-fi art show for young Kentucky women, KINDRED: MAKING SPACE IN SPACE.
Buy books on Amazon -
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.
Buy books on Amazon
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 -
Candy J. Cooper
Candy J. Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. She has been a staff writer for four newspapers, including the The Detroit Free Press and the San Francisco Examiner. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, The Columbia Journalism Review and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. She has written several nonfiction series books for the classroom for Scholastic, and her essay on stepfamilies is part of an anthology, My Father Married Your Mother: Dispatches from the Blended Family, published by W. W. Norton.
Buy books on Amazon
(source: Amazon) -
Rex Ogle
Holy moly! I am so humbled and honored for y'all to read my books. Big hugs to all of ya.
Buy books on Amazon
Also, check out graphic novels under my pen name REY TERCIERO.
Bio:
REX OGLE is an award-winning author and the writer of nearly a hundred children’s books, comics, graphic novels, and memoirs—most notably Free Lunch, which won the ALA/YALSA award for Excellence in Non-Fiction.
Born and raised (mostly) in Texas, he moved to New York City after college to intern at Marvel Comics before moving over to DC Comics, Scholastic, and Little Brown Young Readers. As an editor, he championed over a dozen NY Times Bestsellers and worked on (and often wrote) major brands such as X-Men, Justice League, Star Wars, LEGO, Power Rangers, Transformers, Minecraft, Assassin -
Chaz Hayden
Chaz Hayden is the author of the YA novel The First Thing About You. Through his writing and his YouTube channel, he speaks with abundant positivity and encourages people to “Be different. Leave a trail.” He grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Pennsylvania, where he highlights accessibility in his community and spends too much time thinking about his next tattoo and what concerts to attend. Chaz Hayden is also a director at Ballers & Bookworms, a nonprofit that supports underserved student-athletes. Follow him on social media @TheChazHayden.
Buy books on Amazon -
Renée Watson
Renée Watson is the author of the children’s picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House, June 2010), which was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Her middle grade novel, What Momma Left Me debuted as the New Voice for 2010 in middle grade fiction by The Independent Children's Booksellers Association.
Buy books on Amazon
Renée’s one woman show, Roses are Red, Women are Blue, debuted at New York City's Lincoln Center at a showcase for emerging artists. Her poetry and articles have been published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind and With Hearts Ablaze.
When Renée is not writing and performing, she is teaching. Renée has worked in public schools and community organizations as an artist in residence for several years, teachin -
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.
Buy books on Amazon -
Carol Cujec
Carol Cujec is an educator and author. Her latest book, written with Peyton Goddard, is a middle-grade novel, called Real, which invites young readers into the world of a girl with nonspeaking autism. Peyton wants kids to understand autism not as a disability so much as a different way of experiencing the world. Real is a groundbreaking story that celebrates the magic that happens when we value and include all people.
Buy books on Amazon
Carol lives with her family in southern California and enjoys yoga, cooking, playing guitar with her daughter and, of course, hiding out with a good book.
Visit Carol's website: http://carolcujec.com
Find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolacujec
Follow her on Twitter: @Ccujec -
Jason Reynolds
Jason Reynolds is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade audience. After earning a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park, Jason Reynolds moved to Brooklyn, New York, where you can often find him walking the four blocks from the train to his apartment talking to himself. Well, not really talking to himself, but just repeating character names and plot lines he thought of on the train, over and over again, because he’s afraid he’ll forget it all before he gets home.
Buy books on Amazon -
Paula Yoo
Paula Yoo is an acclaimed book author, TV writer/producer, and musician. Her children’s and Young Adult nonfiction books and novels have won many awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature, ALA-YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, the Asian Pacific American Youth Literature Award, several IRA Notables and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections, plus many starred reviews.
Buy books on Amazon
Her latest YA nonfiction book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE, was published on May 7, 2024 by Norton Young Readers (W.W. Norton & Co.). It was selected as a Junior Library Guil -
Deb Caletti
Deb Caletti is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of over twenty books for adults and young adults, including Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, a finalist for the National Book Award, and A Heart in a Body in the World, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. Her books have also won the Josette Frank Award for Fiction, the Washington State Book Award, and numerous other state awards and honors, and she was a finalist for the PEN USA Award. She lives with her family in Seattle.
Buy books on Amazon -
Angela Velez
Angela Velez grew up in Baltimore, under the watchful eye of her Peruvian immigrant parents. She has a BA from Columbia University and an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. Angela lives in Pittsburgh, with her piles of books, three plastic flamingos, and one wobbly disco ball. Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity is her first novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
Margarita Engle
Margarita Engle is a Cuban-American poet, novelist, and journalist whose work has been published in many countries. She lives with her husband in northern California.
Buy books on Amazon -
Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’ fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second Books, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His other works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), Superman from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru). In 201
Buy books on Amazon -
Candace Fleming
I have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.
Buy books on Amazon
I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.
Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calli -
Candy J. Cooper
Candy J. Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. She has been a staff writer for four newspapers, including the The Detroit Free Press and the San Francisco Examiner. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, The Columbia Journalism Review and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. She has written several nonfiction series books for the classroom for Scholastic, and her essay on stepfamilies is part of an anthology, My Father Married Your Mother: Dispatches from the Blended Family, published by W. W. Norton.
Buy books on Amazon
(source: Amazon) -
K.A. Cobell
K.A. Cobell, Staa’tssipisstaakii, is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she spends her time writing books, chasing her kids through the never-ending rain, and scouring the inlet beaches for sand dollars and hermit crabs. LOOKING FOR SMOKE, a Reese's Book Club pick, is her debut novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
Sofía Lapuente
Sofía Lapuente is an author, screenwriter, and avid world traveler who immigrated from Spain to the United States to realize her dream of storytelling. Since then, she has received a master’s degree in fine arts at UCLA, worked as a producer and casting director on an Emmy nominated show, and received coauthor credits in Gleanings, the fourth installment of the bestselling Arc of a Scythe trilogy, with her partner, Jarrod. Their upcoming novel is a fun thriller called RETRO. Together, the couple writes and produces film and television under their production company Dos Lobos Entertainment. They can be found on Instagram @sofiandjarrod and TikTok @sofiandjarrod
Buy books on Amazon -
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.
Buy books on Amazon -
Rosalind Wiseman
Rosalind Wiseman is an internationally recognized expert on children, teens, parenting, bullying, social justice, and ethical leadership.
Buy books on Amazon
Wiseman is the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence. Twice a New York Times Bestseller, Queen Bees & Wannabes was the basis for the 2004 movie Mean Girls. Her follow‐up book Queen Bee Moms and Kingpin Dads was released in 2006, and she is a monthly columnist for Family Circle magazine.
Since founding the Empower Program, a national violence‐prevention program, in 1992, Wiseman has gone on to work with tens of thousands of students, educators, parents, counselors, coaches, and administrators to create communities base -
A.R. Vishny
A. R. Vishny was born and raised in Massachusetts but now calls New York City home. Her essays on Jewish representation in pop culture have appeared in Teen Vogue, the Washington Post, and Hey Alma. She earned a BA in English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a JD at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a Law and Literature fellow. When she’s not writing, she’s at the theater or else hunting for the perfect slice of cheesecake.
Buy books on Amazon -
Lyn Miller-Lachmann
I've practiced writing ever since I was six years and invented an entire classroom of 24 kids who wanted to be my friends. The following year, my mother gave me a typewriter, and I started putting my stories on paper. It was my way of creating a world where everything worked out the way I wanted it to.
Buy books on Amazon
When I became a high school teacher, I started collecting my students’ stories, and I incorporated these into my first efforts to write for others. I taught English to refugees from Latin America and organized concerts of Latin American music, and the people I met inspired and encouraged me to write the novel that years later would become Gringolandia. After Gringolandia came out in 2009, I enrolled in the MFA program in Writing for Children & -
Jas Hammonds
Jas Hammonds (they/she) was raised in many cities and between the pages of many books. They have received support for their writing from the Highlights Foundation, Baldwin for the Arts and more. They are also a grateful recipient of the MacDowell James Baldwin Fellowship. Their debut novel, We Deserve Monuments, won the 2023 Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent. She lives in New Jersey.
Buy books on Amazon -
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.
Buy books on Amazon
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 -
Jessica Parra
As a lawyer and daughter of Guatemalan and Cuban bakers, Jessica C. Parra never objects to an extra slice of cake. She’s a Los Angeles native who loves to write about Latinas with big hair (and even bigger dreams), complicated families, cats living their best lives (all nine of them), and the healing magic of acceptance.
Buy books on Amazon
When she isn’t drafting books you can find her sipping kombucha, cuddling with her kitties, or co-piloting the Millennium Falcon at Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge.
You can visit Jessica at jessicaparra.com -
Cara Bean
Cara Bean is the author of Draw 500 Funny Faces and Features and taught art at Lexington High School in Massachusetts for twelve years. She has an MFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Washington in Seattle and received a certificate in cartooning from the Sequential Artists Workshop in Gainesville, Florida.
Buy books on Amazon
She provides interactive workshops on creativity with people of all ages and backgrounds in various public forums. Cara is passionate about drawing and believes that the simple act of doodling on paper can lead to the investigation of complex ideas.
When she is not teaching, she makes comics that delve into poetic self-introspection, playful storytelling, and topics relevant to teens and teaching. Cara is currently working on -
Walela Nehanda
Walela Nehanda is a nonbinary cultural worker, stem cell transplant and cancer survivor, and mental health advocate born and based in Los Angeles, California.
Buy books on Amazon -
Robin Wasley
Robin Wasley is a YA fantasy writer with a soft spot for orphans, found families, and funny girls with no special skills who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. She grew up in a family of adoptees, never truly seeing herself reflected in the books she devoured. As an adult, when she saw an Asian American girl on the cover of a YA book for the first time, she cried.
Buy books on Amazon
Robin lives in Boston and works in scientific publishing, but she writes so readers can laugh, cry, and scream “Why are you like this?” Her favorite things are genre-mashes, bubble baths, Cheetos, and pie. When not writing, she enjoys baking and binge-watching entire seasons of TV in a single day.
Her one dream in life is to become best friends with BTS. -
Yi Shun Lai
Yi Shun Lai (say "yeeshun" for her first name) is the author of the forthcoming young adult historical novel A Suffragist's Guide to the Antarctic (Atheneum Books, Spring 2024). Her prior books are PIN UPS, a memoir (Homebound Publications, 2020) and the novel NOT A SELF-HELP BOOK: THE MISADVENTURES OF MARTY WU (Shade Mountain Press, May 2016).
Buy books on Amazon
She is a columnist at The Writer magazine.
She teaches in the MFA program at Bay Path University.
Visit her on Twitter or on the web. -
Hailey Alcaraz
Hailey began her writing career in the sixth grade as a kid reporter for Time for Kids magazine, and has been addicted to storytelling ever since. Born in California and raised in Arizona, she's a Southwest girl through and through who loves stories about fellow multicultural girls finding their way in the world.
Buy books on Amazon
She currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, two daughters and precocious German Shepherd. Connect with her online at haileyalcaraz.comand @alcarazbooks on both TikTok and Instagram. -
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.
Buy books on Amazon -
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.
Buy books on Amazon -
Kelly Loy Gilbert
Kelly Loy Gilbert is the author of CONVICTION and PICTURE US IN THE LIGHT (Disney-Hyperion, spring 2018). She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Buy books on Amazon -
Jennifer Baker
Jennifer Baker is a publishing professional, creator/host of the Minorities in Publishing podcast, and faculty for Bay Path University's low-res MFA in Nonfiction. Jennifer is the editor of the short story anthology EVERYDAY PEOPLE: THE COLOR OF LIFE (Atria Books, 2018) and the author of the YA novel FORGIVE ME NOT (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023).
Buy books on Amazon
In 2017, she was awarded a NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship & Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant (as well as their award for Artistic Excellence) for Nonfiction Literature. Her writing has appeared in Newtown Literary (for which her short story "The Pursuit of Happiness" was nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize). She was previously a contributing editor to Electric Literature and has written for print and -
Lily Sparks
Born in Norwalk Connecticut, started my career in Los Angeles. Hid out in the mountains for a while, now I'm setting down roots by the beach.
Buy books on Amazon
Telling stories is what I do to be happy and help make sense of the world.
I hope you have as much fun reading my books as I do writing them. -
Ruben Degollado
Rubén Degollado was born in Indiana, but is from McAllen, Texas, where the majority of his family has lived for generations. His fiction has appeared in Bilingual Review/Revista Bilingüe, Beloit Fiction Journal, Gulf Coast, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Image, Relief, and the anthologies Texas Short Stories, Fantasmas and Bearing the Mystery. He has been a finalist in American Short Fiction’s annual contest, Glimmer Train’s Family Matters Contest, and Bellingham Review’s 2010 Tobias Wolff Award and has been Image journal's Artist of the Month. His first novel, THROW, is forthcoming from Slant Books.
Buy books on Amazon -
Jamie Jo Hoang
Jamie Jo Hoang is the award author of BLUE SUN, YELLOW SKY. Her driver's license says she lives in Los Angeles, but she tries to escape to foreign lands as often as possible. She is a writer, thinker, explorer, lover of tea, certified advanced diver, and never far from an ocean. She blogs about her life and travels at: www.heyjamie.com. Tweets at: @heyjamie. And posts pretty pictures on Instagram as @heyjamiejo. So far she's visited Peru, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Uruguay, Chile, Bonaire, France, England, Jamaica, Ireland, Scotland, and numerous other cities within America.
Buy books on Amazon -
Sara Hosey
Sara Hosey's debut novel, IPHIGENIA MURPHY, about a runaway who starts a new life in a wooded city park, has been called "gritty and unflinching" and named an audible buzzworthy listen. Kirkus Reviews calls her latest YA novel, SUMMER PEOPLE, "a timely mystery exploring multiple complex themes."
Buy books on Amazon
Sara's debut short story collection, DIRTY SUBURBIA, traces the experiences of girls and women living in a world that often hates them.