H.E. Edgmon
H.E. Edgmon (he/they) is a high school and college dropout, a militant queer, and an author of books both irreverent and radicalizing. His stories will always center the perspective of Indigenous people, trans people, and survivors of trauma. At present, he’s probably biting off more than he can chew, emulating the aesthetic of Dwayne from The Lost Boys (1987), and living out the found family trope in Brooklyn. Online, he can most often be found on Twitter @heedgmon.
If you like author H.E. Edgmon here is the list of authors you may also like
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Shifa Saltagi Safadi
Shifa Saltagi Safadi was born in Syria and immigrated to the US with her parents when she was a young girl. She is a bilingual Arabic/English speaker, and is very familiar with the challenges of learning English and navigating two languages.
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As a mom to four Arab American children and a former English teacher to Middle School students, (and an author!) she now spends her time helping kids develop a love of reading and writing too.
You can learn more about her books on her website shifasafadi.com -
Victoria Zeller
Victoria Zeller is a trans writer born and raised in Buffalo, New York, where she still proudly resides. A former football player and lifelong fan, her initial focus was sports journalism before she made a sharp pivot to writing about queers who can’t stay out of trouble. Her sportswriting can be found at Defector, while her manic minute-by-minute sports analysis can be found at Bluesky at @dirtbagqueer.rocks.
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Logan-Ashley Kisner
Logan-Ashley Kisner is a Vegas-born author who writes about trans kids surviving the horrors (supernatural or otherwise).
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His socials are usually @transhorrors, or you can find him on his website, loganashleykisner.com -
Michael Bronski
Michael Bronski has written extensively on LGBT issues for four decades. He has published widely in the LGBT and mainstream press and his work appears in numerous anthologies. He is a Senior Lecturer in Women’s and Gender Studies and Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College.
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Racquel Marie
Racquel Marie grew up in Southern California where her passion for storytelling of all kinds was encouraged by her friends and big family. She received a BA in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in gender and sexuality studies from the University of California, Irvine.
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K. Ancrum
K. Ancrum, is an author of award winning speculative contemporary YA notably THE WICKER KING, DARLING and most recently the critically acclaimed ICARUS. K. is a Chicago native passionate about diversity and representation in young adult fiction. She currently writes most of her work in the lush gardens of the Chicago Art Institute.
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Jessie Janowitz
"The Doughnut Fix" is Jessie Janowitz's first book!
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Jessie grew up in New York City and still lives there with her family.
Her debut middle grade novel THE DOUGHNUT FIX was a 2018 Cybils finalist, a Spring 2018 Junior Library Guild Selection, an Amazon Best Book of the Month (Apr 2018), and received a starred review from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. The sequel, THE DOUGHNUT KING, out from Sourcebooks May 2019, is also a Junior Library Guild Selection. -
Kenneth M. Cadow
Kenneth M. Cadow is an art teacher. He lives in Norwich, Vermont. This is his first picture book.
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Rebecca E.F. Barone
As an engineer, Rebecca E. F. Barone has worked on projects ranging from injury analysis for the NFL to engine calibration for hybrid cars. Realizing her love for books in addition to numbers, she now describes the world with words rather than equations.
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Kacen Callender
Kacen Callender is a Saint Thomian author of children's fiction and fantasy, best known for their Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award-winning middle grade debut Hurricane Child. Their fantasy novel, Queen of the Conquered, is the 2020 winner of the World Fantasy Award and King and the Dragonflies won the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
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Callender is Black, queer, trans, and uses they/them and he/him pronouns. Callender debuted their new name when announcing their next young adult novel Felix Ever After in May 2019. -
Rati Mehrotra
Born and raised in India, Rati Mehrotra now lives and writes in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of the science fantasy novels Markswoman (2018) and Mahimata (2019) published by Harper Voyager and the YA fantasy novel Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove (2022) published by Wednesday Books. You can check out her short stories at http://ratiwrites.com/short-fiction/
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Diego Blanco
Diego Blanco is a Spanish queer artist and designer based in Valencia, Spain.
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Diego's style focuses on the strategic use of colors to represent his everyday and not so everyday ideas about the world.
He is a lover of illustrations with large compositions of many diverse and varied characters where you can get lost but he also works on pieces composed by simple figures, colourful flat shapes and isolated characters that explore the world of icons, logos and small animations.
Diego is a born visual thinker always accompanied by his notebook so that nothing escapes him in his day to day life. Working with him in a creative process will bring out his more artistic side hand in hand with his more rational side where ideas will flow together with gr -
Tracey Baptiste
From Thompson-Gale: "Something About the Author"
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I have always loved books. My favorite, was an oversized complete Grimm's Fairy Tales with beautiful illustrations, which I lost when my family moved to the United States. I was fascinated by the stories of the tailor who went up against a giant, and clever Hans, who wasn't so clever as well as the more traditional princess stories. When I was about thirteen, after spending a summer in the library reading Paul Zindel and Judy Blume among other authors, I announced to my best friend that I was going to be a writer. I didn't decide what I wanted to write until I read "The Friends" by Rosa Guy. I had recently moved to Brooklyn, NY, and the book spoke to my situation precisely. It remains one of m -
Janella Angeles
Janella Angeles is a Filipino-American author who got her start in writing through consuming glorious amounts of fanfiction at a young age–which eventually led to penning a few of her own, and later on, creating original stories from her imagination. A lifelong lover of books, she’s lucky enough to be working in the business of publishing them on top of writing them. She currently resides in Massachusetts, where she’s most likely to be found listening to musicals on repeat and daydreaming too much for her own good. She is represented by Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. WHERE DREAMS DESCEND, Book 1 in her debut fantasy Kingdom of Cards duology, will be out June 2, 2020 from Wednesday Books.
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Leanne Schwartz
Leanne Schwartz is the author of the young adult fantasies A Prayer for Vengeance and To a Darker Shore, as well as the upcoming adult romcom My Kind of Trouble, writing as L. A. Schwartz. She has spent about half her life at either the library or the local theater, where she has played Lady Macbeth, Lady Capulet, and Hera―perhaps one reason she writes such vengeful, murderous girls. When she’s not writing, she can be found baking pizzelle and singing along to showtunes. She lives in California with her family.
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Christopher Lincoln
Christopher Lincoln is the author of the Billy Bones series. He graduated from the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University and spent nearly a decade working as an animator. He credits animation for teaching him how to write, because an animator must learn how to inhabit a character's body and move him in a world of his own.
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His work is influenced by creatives and authors such as Charles Dickens, J.M. Barrie, Roald Dahl, J.K. Rowling and Tim Burton. -
Denise S. Robbins
Denise S. Robbins is from Madison, Wisconsin, the city where she grew up and to which she returned to after sixteen years living and working in climate activism on the East Coast. She lives with her husband in a yellow house circled by oaks and pines and two owls. Her stories have been published in literary journals including Barcelona Review, Gulf Coast Journal, and more. Read her work and get in touch at www.denisesrobbins.com.
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R.M. Romero
R. M. Romero is a Jewish Latina and author of fairy tales for children and adults. She lives in Miami Beach with her cat Henry VIII and spends her summers helping to maintain Jewish cemeteries in Poland.
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Lorelei Savaryn
Lorelei Savaryn (loreleisavaryn.com) is an author of creepy, magical stories for children. She holds a BA in creative writing and is a former elementary teacher and instructional coach. When she isn’t writing, she spends her time amidst the beautiful chaos of life with her husband and four children outside of Chicago.
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Eden Royce
Eden Royce is a writer from Charleston, South Carolina now living in Southeast England. She’s a Shirley Jackson Award winner and a Bram Stoker Award finalist for her adult fiction, which has appeared in a variety of print and online publications.
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Her books for young readers have received Walter Dean Myers Award Honors, and been recognized as a Bram Stoker Award winner, an Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist, an Ignyte Award winner, and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner for outstanding children’s literature.
Find her on social media via her LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/edenroyce.
Sign up for her newsletter: https://edenroyce.eo.page/sbtyt -
Jenn Reese
Jenn Reese (she/they) writes speculative fiction for readers of all ages. She is the author of Every Bird a Prince and A Game of Fox & Squirrels, an NPR Best Book of 2020, a finalist for the Andre Norton Award and the Mythopoeic Award, and winner of the Oregon Book Award. Her other publications include the Above World trilogy and numerous short stories and essays. Jenn lives in Portland, Oregon where she makes art, plays video games, and talks to the birds.
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S. Jae-Jones
S. Jae-Jones, called JJ, is an artist, an adrenaline junkie, and the NYT bestselling author of Wintersong. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives on the wrong coast, where she can’t believe she has to deal with winter every year. When not writing, JJ can be found working toward her next black belt degree in taekwondo, being run ragged by her twin dogs, Castor & Pollux, or indulging in her favorite hobby—collecting more hobbies.
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NOTE: Only here to drop hints. 👀 And maybe occasionally answer questions. -
Kasey LeBlanc
Kasey LeBlanc (he / him) is a children’s & young adult author whose first novel FLYBOY is forthcoming from Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins (05/14/24).
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Born and raised in Massachusetts, Kasey is a graduate of Harvard College, and an alum of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator program, where he was an Alice Hoffman fellowship recipient.
He was a 2019 finalist for the Boston Public Library’s Writer-in-Residence position and has had works published in WBUR’s Cognoscenti, them, and Writer Unboxed.
He is represented by Mollie Glick at CAA. -
Clare Edge
Clare Edge is an author (and witch) who was raised in the Rocky Mountains. Her cozy middle grade fantasy debut Accidental Demons was a NYPL Best Books for Kids and Cybil’s Award Finalist; it follows the misadventures of a young diabetic witch who can’t stop conjuring demons when she tests her blood sugar.
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Her horror-tinged YA speculative thriller debut Natural Selection is forthcoming from Delacorte/PRH in summer 2026.
She hold masters degrees from the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (MA) & the University of Montana (MFA). Her graduate research explored how we make and translate meaning through story. She has too many degrees, too few cats, and often too much or too little blood sugar.
She can be found on most -
Elias Cold
Hi! I'm Eli. I write dark cosy YA Fantasy.
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I also write Adult Science Fantasy under the name Eli Snow. -
Aaron Hartzler
Aaron Hartzler is the author of Rapture Practice (Little, Brown), a memoir about getting kicked out of his Christian high school two weeks before graduation. The New York Times called Rapture Practice "effervescent and moving, evocative and tender." It was also named one of Kirkus Reviews and Amazon's Best Books of 2013, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. His second book, a novel called What We Saw, was published by HarperTeen on September 22, 2015. It's the story of a girl named Kate whose friend is assaulted by student athletes at a party, and how Kate navigates small town politics to find out what really happened. Aaron lives at the beach in Los Angeles with his husband, Brant, and their two rescue dogs, Charlie and Brahms
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Sheela Chari
I'm the author of VANISHED (Disney Hyperion) and FINDING MIGHTY (Abrams) and THE UNEXPLAINABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MAFS PATEL series (Walker US), based on the award-winning hit podcast. My upcoming tween novel, KARTHIK DELIVERS (Abrams), will be available spring 2022.
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Michael Leali
Michael Leali is a writer and educator. He received his MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When he’s not dreaming up stories, he’s probably playing a board game, eating cheese, or grading papers somewhere in the suburbs of Chicago. The Civil War of Amos Abernathy is his debut novel. Visit Michael at michaelleali.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @michaelleali.
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Mark Oshiro
MARK OSHIRO is the queer Latinx, Hugo-nominated writer of the online Mark Does Stuff universe (Mark Reads and Mark Watches), where he analyzes book and TV series. He was the nonfiction editor of Queers Destroy Science Fiction! and the co-editor of Speculative Fiction 2015, and is the President of the Con or Bust Board of Directors. When not writing/recording reviews or editing, Oshiro engages in social activism online and offline. Anger is a Gift is his debut YA contemporary fiction novel.
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Linsey Miller
Once upon a time, Linsey Miller studied biology in Arkansas. These days, she holds an MFA in fiction and is the author of Lambda-nominated What We Devour. Her other works include the Mask of Shadows duology, Belle Révolte, The Game, the first three books in the Disney Princes series, and the upcoming YA fantasy That Devil, Ambition (spring 2025 from HarperCollins). She can be found in Texas writing about science and magic anywhere there is coffee.
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Carolyn Lee Adams
Carolyn Lee Adams is originally from the Seattle area, breeding ground of serial killers and those who write about them. She attended USC Film School and graduated with a BFA in screenwriting. RUTHLESS (Simon Pulse, Summer 2015) is her first novel. When she isn't exploring the dark side of human nature in her writing, you'll find her on stage as a stand-up comedian. Because those things go together.
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Nora Lester Murad
Nora Lester Murad moved to Jerusalem in 2004 with her Palestinian husband and three Palestinian-American daughters. She co-founded Palestine's first community foundation, Dalia Association, and Aid Watch Palestine, a community-driven aid accountability initiative. Nora has published in The Guardian, Aljazeera, Huffington Post, Open Democracy, and more. She speaks at international events around the world.
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Rest in My Shade, co-authored with Danna Masad, will be released by Interlink in November 2018. An anthology of reflections by foreigners who have been transformed by Palestine is currently being shopped to agents. Nora is also finalizing two novels -- one is women's literary fiction and the other is aimed at upper middle grade.
Nora blogs at -
Emily Benedek
Emily Benedek graduated from Harvard College. Her articles and essays have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Vogue, The Dallas Morning News, Mosaic, Tablet magazine, and on NPR, among others. Her first book, The Wind Won’t Know Me: A History of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute (Alfred a. Knopf, Inc.), was a finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize. Her books include Beyond the Four Corners of the World: A Navajo Woman’s Journey (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.), and a memoir, Through the Unknown, Remembered Gate (Schocken). She is also the author of Red Sea (St. Martins Press), a thriller about terrorism and counter-terrorism, and Hometown Betrayal: A Tragic Story of Secrecy and Abuse in Mormon Country, an
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Taylor Tracy
Taylor Tracy is the author of the Stonewall Award Honor Book Murray Out of Water. Taylor writes books filled with humor and heart that explore the joys and hopes of queer kids, focusing on mental health, found family, and the importance of a sense of community. She lives in New Jersey with her family, including a fluffle of mischievous rescue bunnies, and loves everything her home state has to offer: the best bagels, pizza, and beaches. When not writing, she can be found down the shore, in the rock gym or next to her growing pile of books to read and love.
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Molly Olguín
Molly Olguín is a queer writer, educator, and monster aficionado. She has stories in magazines like Quarterly West and the Normal School. She was the recipient of the Loft Mentor Series Fellowship in 2019. With Jackie Hedeman, she is the creator of the audio drama The Pasithea Powder. She teaches English and creative writing to high school students in Seattle, Washington.
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Maya Deane
Maya Deane is writing for eternity. We imagine she would enjoy a nice reception in the present, but when we are all dust, her sinister spells will continue to unfold, guiding the motion of the stars inexorably down into the gravity wells of the supermassive black holes.
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Since we are all currently alive, she would love to discuss the many things people should know about: the history of forks, cannabis-hotboxing Amazons in the archeological record, the top three most famous 18th century French trans women, experimental culinary archaeology (buy her a bunch of ancient bread loaf molds so she can make conical loafs, please), and the importance of good diplomatic relationships with cats.
When mortals come to naught and their name is naught, she w -
Addie Brook Tsai
Addie Tsai (any/all) is the author of Dear Twin (2019), included in American Library Association’s Rainbow List in 2021, and Unwieldy Creatures (2022), a Shirley Jackson finalist for Best Novel. She collaborated with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater on Victor Frankenstein and Camille Claudel, among others. They are the founding editor in chief for just femme & dandy. Addie is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Creative Writing at William & Mary, where she is Affiliate Faculty in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. She is the author of Straight White Men Can’t Dance: American Masculinity in Film and Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 9/25). Her scholarly articles have been published in LO:TECH:POP:CULT: Screendance Remixed (2024), The Bloomsbury Ha
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Aimee Phan
Aimee Phan is the author of The Reeducaion of Cherry Truong (2012) and We Should Never Meet (2004.) She is chair of the undergrad Writing and Literature program at California College of the Arts. She is married to the poet Matt Shears (10,000 Wallpapers, Where a Road Had Been.)
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Gennifer Choldenko
There’s a Lego in my bum which fits with the Lego in my chair and when I sit down to write, I hear the satisfying snap of the two pieces fitting together. I love words, dictionaries, thesauruses, sharp pencils, the smell of book ink and the delicious art of carving out sentences on clean white paper. I love to slip into another person’s skin and feel what it’s like to live another life. I love when characters come to me out of nowhere and make me cry so hard my mascara runs or laugh until my stomach hurts. I love the crazy fun and infinite possibility of storytelling.
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What prepared me for a life of writing fiction? Though I have a BA from Brandeis University in English and American Literature and a BFA in illustration from Rhode Island Schoo -
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes has always loved reading and writing stories. Born and raised in Manchester, a largely African-American neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh, she was a voracious reader as a child. She began college as a dance major, but when she discovered there were novels by African Americans, she knew she wanted to be an author. She wrote six novels for adults, two writing guides, and a memoir, but writing for children remained her dream.
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Now she is the author of eleven books for youth including the New York Times bestsellers Will's Race for Home, Ghost Boys and Black Brother, Black Brother. Her other books include Soul Step, Treasure Island: Runaway Gold, Paradise on Fire, Towers Falling, and the Louisiana Girls Trilogy: Nin -
Hena Khan
Hena Khan writes books in a multitude of formats, including picture books, middle grade fiction, pick-your-path adventures, and graphic novels. Her stories are often centered around community, friendship, and family, and draw from her own experiences and culture. Hena’s novels include AMINA'S VOICE, MORE TO THE STORY, and DRAWING DEENA. She is the author of the Zayd Saleem Chasing the Dream, Zara’s Rules, and Super You! series. Hena’s picture books include GOLDEN DOMES AND SILVER LANTERNS, UNDER MY HIJAB, and IT'S RAMADAN, CURIOUS GEORGE, among others.
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Tracey Baptiste
From Thompson-Gale: "Something About the Author"
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I have always loved books. My favorite, was an oversized complete Grimm's Fairy Tales with beautiful illustrations, which I lost when my family moved to the United States. I was fascinated by the stories of the tailor who went up against a giant, and clever Hans, who wasn't so clever as well as the more traditional princess stories. When I was about thirteen, after spending a summer in the library reading Paul Zindel and Judy Blume among other authors, I announced to my best friend that I was going to be a writer. I didn't decide what I wanted to write until I read "The Friends" by Rosa Guy. I had recently moved to Brooklyn, NY, and the book spoke to my situation precisely. It remains one of m -
Gayle Forman
Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels for young adults, including the Just One Series, I Was Here, Where She Went and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than 40 languages and in 2014 was adapted into a major motion picture.
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Gayle published Leave Me, her first novel starring adults in 2016 and her latest novel, I Have Lost My Way, comes out in March of 2018.
Gayle lives with her husband and daughters in Brooklyn. -
Kwame Alexander
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and New York Times Bestselling author of 21 books, including The Crossover, which received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American literature for Children, the Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor, The NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, and the Passaic Poetry Prize. Kwame writes for children of all ages. His other works include Surf's Up, a picture book; Booked, a middle grade novel; and He Said She Said, a YA novel.
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Kwame believes that poetry can change the world, and he uses it to inspire and empower young people through his PAGE TO STAGE Writing and Publishing Program released by Scholastic. A regular speaker at colleges and confere -
Sherri L. Smith
Sherri L. Smith is the award-winning author of YA novels LUCY THE GIANT, SPARROW, HOT SOUR SALTY SWEET, FLYGIRL and ORLEANS. In October 2015, she makes her middle grade debut with THE TOYMAKER’S APPRENTICE from G.P. Putnam and Sons for Penguin Random House.
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Sherri has worked in film, animation, comic books and construction. Her books have been listed as Amelia Bloomer, American Library Association Best Books for Young People, and Junior Library Guild Selections. FLYGIRL was the 2009 California Book Awards Gold Medalist.
She loves her family, travel, chocolate chip cookies, reading, and and a really good cup of tea. -
James Ponti
James Ponti is the New York Times Bestselling author of three Middle Grade book series: the DEAD CITY trilogy about a secret society that polices the undead who live beneath New York City; the Edgar Award-winning FRAMED! series about a pair of Sherlockian tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, D.C.; and the all-new CITY SPIES about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the world who form an elite MI6 spy team.
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James grew up in Atlantic Beach, Florida and lives in Orlando. He's a die hard fan of the Boston Red Sox, the USC Trojans, and the Italian National Soccer Team. He loves travel, writing, and spending time with his amazing family. -
Jenn Reese
Jenn Reese (she/they) writes speculative fiction for readers of all ages. She is the author of Every Bird a Prince and A Game of Fox & Squirrels, an NPR Best Book of 2020, a finalist for the Andre Norton Award and the Mythopoeic Award, and winner of the Oregon Book Award. Her other publications include the Above World trilogy and numerous short stories and essays. Jenn lives in Portland, Oregon where she makes art, plays video games, and talks to the birds.
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Vera Brosgol
Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, Russia in 1984 and moved to the United States when she was five. She received a diploma in Classical Animation from Sheridan College, and currently works at Laika Inc. in Portland, Oregon drawing storyboards for feature animation.
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She has done illustration work for clients such as Nickelodeon, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Simon & Schuster. Her first graphic novel, Anya's Ghost, was published in 2011 by First Second Books.
She loves knitting, baking, and trying not to kill her plants. She hopes you are enjoying looking at her drawings! -
Ann Clare LeZotte
Deaf--bilingual, bicultural. Author of T4: A Novel in Verse (Houghton, 2008) and Show Me a Sign (Scholatic, 2020). Library Youth Services for 11 years and counting. Focus on underserved populations and inclusion. Lives with her family in Gainesville, Florida.
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Deva Fagan
I write fantasy and science fiction for readers of all ages. I live in Maine with my husband and our dog. When I'm not writing I spend my time reading, playing video games, doing geometry, and drinking copious amounts of tea.
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NOTE: My comments on books I've read are not meant to be critical reviews, but are just my own reactions. I don't generally use stars, but I do occasionally mark a book with five stars if it's one that feels like it will become a long-term favorite, because it's exactly my sort of book, and caters to my specific tastes as a reader. There are plenty of books I read and really admire that are clearly excellent books, but which are not so exactly "for me" that I give them five stars. I will unabashedly stop reading books I -
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.
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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 -
Kyle Lukoff
Kyle Lukoff writes books for kids and other people.
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Before becoming a full-time writer, Kyle worked at five bookstores, in four libraries, for three schools, as two genders, through one intersection: people, and books. -
Jasmine Warga
Jasmine Warga is a writer from Cincinnati, Ohio who currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. She is the internationally bestselling author of My Heart and Other Black Holes and Here We Are Now. Her books have been published in over twenty-five countries and optioned for film. Her debut middle grade novel, Other Words For Home, will be published in Spring 2019. Jasmine lives in an apartment filled with books with her husband, two tiny daughters, large dog, and mischievous cat.
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**I am only on Goodreads when one of my publishers sets up a Q&A for me, so the best way to contact me is through my website: www.jasminewarga.com or on twitter: @jasminewarga. Thank you so much for reading my books!** -
Andrea Wang
Andrea Wang is the award-winning author of Watercress (Caldecott Medal, Newbery Honor, APALA Award, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, JLG Gold Standard Selection, seven starred reviews), The Nian Monster (APALA Honor), Magic Ramen (Freeman Book Award Honor). Her debut middle grade novel, The Many Meanings of Meilan, was reviewed by the New York Times, has two starred reviews, and is also a JLG Gold Standard Selection. Her work explores culture, creative thinking, and identity. She is also the author of seven nonfiction titles for the library and school market. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in the Denver area with her family.
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Amy Noelle Parks
Amy Noelle Parks is a professor of elementary education at Michigan State University, where she helps future teachers recover from the trauma inflicted on them by years of school mathematics.
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At night, she writes stories about smart girls falling for feminist boys in quirky midwestern settings and likes using One Direction lyrics as the inspiration for entire novels. Social media still scares her, but she’s working on it. -
Mylisa Larsen
Mylisa Larsen has been telling stories for a long time. This has caused her to get gimlet-eyed looks from her parents, her siblings and, later, her own children when they felt that certain stories had been embellished beyond acceptable limits. She now writes children’s books where her talents for hyperbole are actually rewarded.
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She is the author of the middle grade novels Quagmire Tiarello Couldn't Be Better and Playing Through The Turnaround and the picture books All Of Those Babies, If I Were A Kangaroo, How To Put Your Parents To Bed and Ho Ho Homework.
She has lived in eight states and two countries and has loved things about all of them. The first place she always finds is the library.
You can visit her online at http://mylisalarsen.com -
Megan E. Freeman
Megan E. Freeman attended an elementary school where poets visited her classroom every week to teach poetry, and she has been a writer ever since. Her New York Times bestselling novel in verse, ALONE, won the Colorado Book Award, the Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Vermont Children’s Book Awards, the High Plains Book Award, is an NCTE Notable Verse Novel, and is included on over two dozen "best of" and state reading lists.
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Megan is also a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and the author of the poetry chapbook Lessons on Sleeping Alone. An award-winning teacher with decades of classroom experience, Megan is nationally recognized for her work leading workshops and speaking to audiences across the country.
Megan used to -
Jessie Janowitz
"The Doughnut Fix" is Jessie Janowitz's first book!
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Jessie grew up in New York City and still lives there with her family.
Her debut middle grade novel THE DOUGHNUT FIX was a 2018 Cybils finalist, a Spring 2018 Junior Library Guild Selection, an Amazon Best Book of the Month (Apr 2018), and received a starred review from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. The sequel, THE DOUGHNUT KING, out from Sourcebooks May 2019, is also a Junior Library Guild Selection. -
Andrea Beatriz Arango
Andrea Beatriz Arango is the author of Newbery Honor Book Iveliz Explains It All and the Pura Belpré Honor Book Something Like Home. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she first became a teacher. She then spent a decade in the United States working in public schools and nonprofits. When she’s not busy writing about middle schoolers and their families, you can find her hoping to spot manatees at the beach. Andrea lives in Puerto Rico with her family and two dogs.
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Rebecca E.F. Barone
As an engineer, Rebecca E. F. Barone has worked on projects ranging from injury analysis for the NFL to engine calibration for hybrid cars. Realizing her love for books in addition to numbers, she now describes the world with words rather than equations.
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Shifa Saltagi Safadi
Shifa Saltagi Safadi was born in Syria and immigrated to the US with her parents when she was a young girl. She is a bilingual Arabic/English speaker, and is very familiar with the challenges of learning English and navigating two languages.
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As a mom to four Arab American children and a former English teacher to Middle School students, (and an author!) she now spends her time helping kids develop a love of reading and writing too.
You can learn more about her books on her website shifasafadi.com -
Taylor Tracy
Taylor Tracy is the author of the Stonewall Award Honor Book Murray Out of Water. Taylor writes books filled with humor and heart that explore the joys and hopes of queer kids, focusing on mental health, found family, and the importance of a sense of community. She lives in New Jersey with her family, including a fluffle of mischievous rescue bunnies, and loves everything her home state has to offer: the best bagels, pizza, and beaches. When not writing, she can be found down the shore, in the rock gym or next to her growing pile of books to read and love.
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Patrice Caldwell
PATRICE CALDWELL is a former children’s book editor turned literary agent and author, born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. She a graduate of Wellesley College and has been named a Forbes’s “30 Under 30” as well as a Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree. Her debut YA novel, WHERE SHADOWS MEET--the first in a sapphic vampire romantasy--is out April 1, 2025 in the US & UK.
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Patrice is also the editor of two anthologies A Phoenix First Must Burn, 16 stories of Black girl magic, resistance, and hope, and Eternally Yours, 15 stories of paranormal love. After years of living in New York City, she moved back to Texas with her adorable cats and so many books. -
Naseem Jamnia
Naseem Jamnia is the Judith A. Markowitz Award-winning and Astounding Award-nominated author of The Bruising of Qilwa, which was a finalist for the Crawford, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. Their middle grade horror debut, The Glade, releases May 27, 2025 (Aladdin). A Persian-Chicagoan, educator, and pro-library activist, Naseem lives outside Reno, NV, with their husband and four furred creatures. Find out more and join their newsletter at naseemwrites.com.
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Alain Serge Dzotap
Alain Serge Dzotap is a Cameroonian children's author and poet. Born in Bafoussam, he started to write poetry after devouring book after book from the city library. Today he promotes literacy across Cameroon through workshops, school visits, and his publishing house Les Bruits de l'encre. Alain's books have received the Saint-Exupéry Valeurs Jeunesse Prize and have been included in the International Youth Library's White Ravens catalog. In 2016, Alain was recognized with Cameroon's medal of knight. The Gift is his first book published in English.
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Rory Lucey
Rory Lucey is the author-illustrator of the graphic novel “SCRAM: The Society of Creatures Real and Magical” with Macmillan’s First Second Books imprint. He illustrated "Bad Sister" from First Second, as well as wrote and illustrated "Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo" and contributed to "Alien: 40 Years 40 Artists" from Titan Books. His work has been featured by The New York Times, Nerdist, Gizmodo, Collider, Publishers Weekly, Martha Stewart Weddings, and more.
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Born in London and raised throughout the Midwest, he holds a B.F.A. in Printmaking and Drawing from Washington University and an M.A. in Teaching Art and Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two cats.
Visit rorylucey.com or find him -
Yxavel Magno Diño
Yxavel Magno Diño was born in the Philippines before moving to Australia at a young age, where she soon discovered that almost nobody there knew how to say her name. To make up for it, she spent her time daydreaming about fantasy worlds filled with characters who had more unusual names than she did.
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Now, she writes stories about her Filipino heritage and its fantastical folklore. When she's not writing, you can find her drinking copious amounts of black tea, or getting lost in the pages of a book. -
Rita Woods
Rita Woods was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She received a BS in Microbiology from Purdue University before graduating from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed her training at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska and currently serves as Medical Director of a Wellness Center that provides care for members of one of the largest Trade Unions in the nation.
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Rita lives in suburban Chicago with her family, where she also serves as Trustee on her local library board.
She loves magic, books, history, coffee and traveling, not necessarily in that order.