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).
For updates, follow her on Instagram @marikoturk or sign up for her monthly newsletter here! https://www.marikoturk.com/
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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.
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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.
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Her non-writing interests include collecting vintage bakeware, crocheting the ugliest blankets you've ever seen, and grocery shopping. -
Clare Osongco
Clare Osongco is a mixed Filipino American author living in Los Angeles who likes to write about falling in love, messy family relationships, and ghosts (real or figurative, sometimes both). She is the author of the young adult romance Midnights With You. Her adult rom com debut, UNFINISHED BUSINESS, is forthcoming from Dell in summer 2026. You can find her on Instagram at @clareosongco.
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Ravynn K. Stringfield
Ravynn K. Stringfield is a Virginia-based author. Ravynn's debut YA romance novel, LOVE REQUIRES CHOCOLATE, will be published from Joy Revolution on August 20, 2024. Her sophomore novel, LOVE IN 280 CHARACTERS OR LESS, is forthcoming from Feiwel and Friends on April 15, 2025. In addition to novels, Stringfield has written and published short fiction, personal essays and blogs, particular on her 6 year blog project, Black Girl Does Grad School. Her fiction can be found in Voyage YA Journal and midnight & indigo, and her personal essays can be found in Catapult Magazine. At Catapult, Stringfield wrote the column "Superhero Girlfriends Anonymous." She also holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from William & Mary.
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Ann Zhao
Ann Zhao (she/her) is a graduate of Wellesley College, where she studied linguistics with a minor in women’s and gender studies. At various points in college, she participated in the student-run newspaper and the student-run radio station, processed interlibrary loans for the college library, and assisted in research for two linguistics labs, including one that wasn’t even at Wellesley. Doing all this was not good for her writing schedule.
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Now working the youth desk at a public library by day and writing by night (or, more realistically, also by day), Ann lives with her family in Illinois. She enjoys cooking, baking, and knitting, but she does not enjoy cleaning up after herself when she’s done with these activities. She collects cassette ta -
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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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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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.
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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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Sarah Suk
Sarah Suk (pronounced like soup with a K) lives in Vancouver, Canada, where she writes stories and admires mountains. She is the author of young adult novels Meet Me at Blue Hour, The Space between Here & Now, and Made in Korea, as well as the co-writer of John Cho’s middle grade novel Troublemaker. When she’s not writing, you can find her hanging out by the water, taking film photos, or eating a bowl of bingsu. You can visit Sarah online at sarahsuk.com.
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Kristin Dwyer
Kristin Dwyer grew up under the California sun and still prays every day for a cloudy sky. When she’s not writing books about people kissing, she and her spouse can be found encouraging their four mischief makers to get into trouble. Kristin is a part-time hair model and wants you to know she is full-time TSA PRECHECK, and one time a credible news outlet asked for her opinion on K-pop (it was the best day of her life). Please do not talk to her about your fandom, she will try to join.
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Sarah Henning
Sarah Henning is a recovering journalist who has worked for the Palm Beach Post, Kansas City Star and Associated Press, among others. While in South Florida, Sarah lived and worked through five hurricanes, which gave her an extreme respect for the ocean. When not writing, she runs ultramarathons, hits the playground with her two kids and hangs out with her husband Justin, who doubles as her long-suffering IT department. Sarah lives in Lawrence, Kansas, which, despite being extremely far from the beach, happens to be pretty cool.
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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 -
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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Maria van Lieshout
Maria grew up in the Amsterdam area, and studied Visual Communications at George Washington University in DC. Maria has a background in brand design and innovation and has illustrated/written 15 picture books for kids. Song of a Blackbird, Maria's historical graphic novel about a female artist in the Amsterdam resistance during WWII, is available NOW!
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Please follow Maria on Instagram at @vanlieshoutstudio or visit www.vanlieshoutstudio.com for more information. -
Anton Treuer
Dr. Anton Treuer (pronounced troy-er) is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of many books. His professional work in education, history, and Indigenous studies and long service as an officiant at Ojibwe tribal ceremonies have made him a consummate storyteller in the Ojibwe cultural tradition and a well-known public speaker. In 2018, he was named Guardian of Culture and Lifeways by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. Anton's first book for young adults, Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask (Young Readers Edition), won the SCBWI Golden Kite. Where Wolves Don’t Die is his first novel.
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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. -
Samira Ahmed
SAMIRA AHMED was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois, in a house that smelled like fried onions, spices, and potpourri. She currently resides in the Midwest. She’s lived in Vermont, New York City, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango.
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A graduate of the University of Chicago, she taught high school English for seven years, worked to create over 70 small high schools in New York City, and fought to secure billions of additional dollars to fairly fund public schools throughout New York State. She’s appeared in the New York Times, New York Daily News, Fox News, NBC, NY1, NPR, and on BBC Radio. Her creative non-fiction and poetry has appeared in Jaggery Lit, Entropy, the Fem, and Claudius Speaks.
He -
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.
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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 -
Jennifer Iacopelli
Jennifer Iacopelli writes about ambitious young women with big dreams and the guys who love them for it. Her novels include Game, Set., Match, Finding Her Edge and Break the Fall, along with a co-edited anthology, Out of Our League. Throughout her career her books have been published in over a dozen languages and Finding Her Edge has been adapted for television by Netflix. She lives in New York and invites you to follow her everywhere @jennifercarolyn or visit her website at jenniferiacopelli.com.
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Rex Ogle
Holy moly! I am so humbled and honored for y'all to read my books. Big hugs to all of ya.
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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 -
Morgan Matson
Morgan Matson grew up in New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut. She attended Occidental College in Los Angeles but halfway though a theater degree, she started working in the children's department of Vroman's Bookstore and fell in love with YA literature.
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Following college graduation (and the proud bearer of an incredibly useful theater/English degree) she moved back East to attend the New School, where she received her M.F.A in Writing for Children.
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, inspired by Morgan's three cross-country road trips, was published in May 2010. It was named an ALA Top Ten Best Book, a PW "Flying Start" book, and was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Book Prize.
In the meantime, Morgan moved back to California, went back to school -
Jennifer Iacopelli
Jennifer Iacopelli writes about ambitious young women with big dreams and the guys who love them for it. Her novels include Game, Set., Match, Finding Her Edge and Break the Fall, along with a co-edited anthology, Out of Our League. Throughout her career her books have been published in over a dozen languages and Finding Her Edge has been adapted for television by Netflix. She lives in New York and invites you to follow her everywhere @jennifercarolyn or visit her website at jenniferiacopelli.com.
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