Authors Similar like Nikkolas Smith

Melissa Iwai

Melissa Iwai is an award winning author and illustrator of children’s books. Her most recent books are: Gigi and Ojiji (Harper Collins 2022), a Geisel Honor book, Gigi and Ojiji: What's in a Name? (Harper Collins 2023), a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard book, and Dumplings for Lili (Norton Young Readers 2021), a Crystal Kite winner. All of her books may be viewed at: http://www.melissaiwai.com/

View daily work on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/melissaiwai1/

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Katy Beebe

I love books -- reading them, holding them, even smelling them! Growing up in the Midwest, my family would spend summers at our local public library. Later, I was lucky enough to study at the medieval University of Oxford, where there are so many books that you can catch their scent rising up from vents in the sidewalks.

I now teach medieval history at the University of Texas at Arlington, and I incorporate the history of books and "book making" into my classes whenever I can. As you might be able to tell from my books (there are more to come after Brother Hugo and the Bear!), I also love to share this history with younger readers, as well.

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Geena Davis

Two-time Academy Award winner Geena Davis is one of Hollywood’s most respected actors, having appeared in several roles that became cultural landmarks, such as Thelma in Thelma & Louise, Dottie Hinson in A League of Their Own, and Mackenzie Allen in Commander in Chief. She is also a world-class archer and is now recognized for her tireless advocacy of women and girls, as Founder and Chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

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Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a ne

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Cynthia Leitich Smith

Cynthia Leitich Smith is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author and anthologist of more than 20 books for young readers. She was named a 2025 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Candidate, the NSK Neustadt Laureate, Texas Literary Hall of Fame inductee, and winner of the Southern Miss Medallion for Outstanding Contributions in Children’s Literature. Cynthia has also been named to deliver the 2026 ALSC Children’s Literature Lecture. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson Inaugural Chair for the children’s-YA writing MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Texas.

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Loren Long

I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky in the 1970’s. We had no artists of any kind in the family. We didn’t know any artists. I liked sports, especially baseball. My mother read to me a lot. But I have to admit, my favorite subject in school was gym class. I also liked to draw. My parents encouraged me to keep drawing.

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Matthew Forsythe

Matthew Forsythe is an author and illustrator living in Los Angeles.

His first book, Pokko and the Drum, won the Charlotte Zolotow Honor for picture book writing and his second book, MINA, was a Governor General Awards finalist.

He was also a designer on several animated shows including Adventure Time, The Midnight Gospel and the Oscar-nominated film, Robin Robin.

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Brian Floca

Brian Floca is the author-illustrator of the Caldecott Medal winner Locomotive, the Robert F. Sibert Honor books Moonshot and Lightship, and other picture books, and is the illustrator of many more books for young readers. Brian Floca lives and works in Brooklyn.

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Kate Messner

Kate Messner is an award-winning author, TED 2012 speaker, and former middle school English teacher. Her books for kids include THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.,SUGAR AND ICE, and EYE OF THE STORM (Walker/Bloomsbury Dec. 2010) the MARTY MCGUIRE series (Scholastic), SEA MONSTER'S FIRST DAY, and OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (Chronicle, Books). Kate also wrote SPITFIRE and CHAMPLAIN AND THE SILENT ONE, both Lake Champlain historical novels published by North Country Books.

Kate lives with her family on Lake Champlain, where she loves to read, write, hike, swing on birch trees, and eat chocolate. She also hangs out in various places online.
Visit Kate's website: http://www.katemessner.com

Find Kate on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/KateMessner

...or f

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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.

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Peter Brown

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Peter Brown is an American writer and illustrator who is best known for children's picture books.

"Peter has always loved telling stories. Growing up in New Jersey, he told stories by drawing whimsical characters and scenes from his imagination. Then, as a teenager, he fell in love with writing, and told his tales with words. While studying illustration at Art Center College of Design, Peter’s love of both words and pictures led him to take several courses on children’s books, and before long he knew he’d found his calling.

After graduating from Art Center Peter moved to New York City to be closer to the publishing in

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Betsy Bird

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, undisputed center of the universe, Betsy Bird (nee Elizabeth Ramsey) grew up and promptly left Michigan the moment her legs could propel her southward. She didn't get far. Obtaining a B.A. at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana (home of recorded jazz and don't let anyone tell you otherwise) she set her sights on Portland, Oregon. When that didn't pan out it was Minneapolis, Minnesota. Then New York, New York. In the midst of all this she somehow managed to get a library degree and a job at New York Public Library, eventually becoming their Youth Media Specialist (a.k.a. the person who bought all the kids' books for Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx). She created the children's literary blog A Fuse #8 Prod

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Kiese Laymon

Kiese Laymon is a black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA from Indiana University and is the author of the forthcoming novel, Long Division in June 2013 and a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America in August 2013. Laymon is a contributing editor at gawker.com. He has written essays and stories for numerous publications including Esquire, ESPN.com, NPR, Gawker, Truthout.com, Longman’s Hip Hop Reader, Mythium and Politics and Culture. Laymon is currently an Associate Professor of English, Creative Writing and co-director of Africana Studies at Vassar College.

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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.

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

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Julie Leung

JULIE LEUNG is an award-winning author of numerous children’s books. Her picture book, The Truth About Dragons is a Caldecott Honor and winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. By day, she works in book publishing. She was raised in the sleepy suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, though it may be more accurate to say she grew up in Oz and came of age in Middle-earth.

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Corey R. Tabor

Corey R. Tabor grew up in Wyoming, where he once spent the night in a cave by an underground waterfall. He now lives with his wife in Seattle, where he draws and reads and explores. Please visit him at coreyrtabor.com.

from https://www.readbrightly.com/meet-ill...

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Tiffany D. Jackson

Tiffany D. Jackson is the New York Times Bestselling author of YA novels including the Coretta Scott King — John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning Monday’s Not Coming, the NAACP Image Award-nominated Allegedly, Let Me Hear A Rhyme, and her 2020 title GROWN. She received her bachelor of arts in film from Howard University, her master of arts in media studies from the New School, and has over a decade in TV/Film experience. The Brooklyn native is a lover of naps, cookie dough, and beaches, currently residing in the borough she loves, most likely multitasking.

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Vashti Harrison

Vashti Harrison, author and illustrator of the bestselling Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, is an artist, author, and filmmaker with a passion for storytelling. She earned her MFA in film and video from California Institute of the Arts, where she snuck into animation and illustration classes to learn from Disney and DreamWorks legends. There she rekindled a love for drawing and painting. Now she uses her love for both film and illustration to craft beautiful stories for children.

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Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman was the first Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. She is also an activist. Gorman's work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. In January 2021, she became the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration, reading her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of Joe Biden.

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Yamile Saied Méndez

Yamile (sha-MEE-lay) is a fútbol obsessed Argentine-American. She’s the mother of 5 kids and 2 adorable dogs. Yamile’s an inaugural Walter Dean Meyers Grant recipient, a graduate of Voices of our Nation (VONA) and the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Writing for Children program.
She’s represented by Linda Camacho, from the Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency.

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Andrea L. Rogers

Andrea L. Rogers is a writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She graduated from the Institute of American Indian and Alaskan Arts with an MFA in Creative Writing. Currently, she is splitting time between Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she is a Ph.d. student at the University Arkansas and Fort Worth, Texas, where her family lives. Her book Mary and the Trail of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story was named an NPR Best Book of 202) by both NPR and American Indians in Children’s Literature.
Ms. Rogers is on the Board of the Fort Worth Public Library.

A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, she is currently revising a middle grade mystery, writing an adult literary horror nov

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Lourdes Heuer

Lourdes Heuer is a children's author, poet, translator, and college professor.

She holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is Associate Professor of English at Broward College.

She currently lives in South Florida with her husband, son, and many dogs.

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Regina Linke

Regina Linke is a Taiwanese American artist specializing in Chinese gongbi-style painting, an ancient form of brush painting that depicts narrative subjects in colorful high detail. She enjoys writing and illustrating stories that celebrate East Asian folklore and philosophy in a modern way. Regina lives with her family in Rhode Island, in the United States.

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Jess Hannigan

Jess Hannigan is an illustrator and author living in Hamilton, Ontario. Her debut picture book was Spider in the Well, followed by her second, The Bear Out There. She has also illustrated for the New York Times, Readers Digest Canada, the Washington Post, and more.

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LeVar Burton

Levardis Robert Martyn "LeVar" Burton Jr. is an actor, director, and educator who has been an icon for more than 35 years. He was the host and producer of the influential television program Reading Rainbow for more than three decades, and starred in the TV miniseries Roots and on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

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Jelani Memory

Jelani Memory (he/him) is a constantly curious writer, entrepreneur, and storyteller. He's the founder and CEO of a kids co. and lives in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, with his wife and 6 kids.

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Cary Fagan

Cary Fagan has written numerous books for children, including What Are You Doing, Benny?, Little Blue Chair and Mr. Zinger's Hat, which was awarded the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the IODE Jean Throop Award. He has also won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of work. Cary was born and raised in Toronto, where he continues to live with his family.

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Kiese Laymon

Kiese Laymon is a black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA from Indiana University and is the author of the forthcoming novel, Long Division in June 2013 and a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America in August 2013. Laymon is a contributing editor at gawker.com. He has written essays and stories for numerous publications including Esquire, ESPN.com, NPR, Gawker, Truthout.com, Longman’s Hip Hop Reader, Mythium and Politics and Culture. Laymon is currently an Associate Professor of English, Creative Writing and co-director of Africana Studies at Vassar College.

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Helaine Becker

Helaine Becker has written over 70 books, including the #1 National bestseller, A Porcupine in a Pine Tree,and its sequel, Dashing through the Snow, Sloth at the Zoom, Dirk Daring, Secret Agent, the Looney Bay All-Stars chapter book series, non-fiction including Counting on Katherine, Worms for Breakfast and Zoobots (all Junior Library Guild Selections), Monster Science, You Can Read, Lines Bars and Circles, and Boredom Blasters, plus many picture books and young adult novels. She also writes for children’s magazines and for children's television. Her show Dr. Greenie's Mad Lab was a finalist at MIP.com Junior in Cannes.
She has won the Lane Anderson Award for Science Writing for Children twice,once for The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Se

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Cathy Camper

Cathy Camper is the author of the award-winning Lowriders in Space graphic novel series, the picture book Ten Ways to Hear Snow (2020), Bugs Before Time, and a forthcoming 2021 picture book, Arab Arab All Year Long. Lowriders to the Center of the Earth won the Pura Belpre Award for Latino Illustration in 2017. Her art work has been featured in Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, by Amy Sedaris. She is a graduate of VONA/Voices writing workshops for people of color in Berkeley, California. Cathy’s a librarian in Portland, Oregon, where she does outreach to schools and kids in grades K-12.

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Regina Linke

Regina Linke is a Taiwanese American artist specializing in Chinese gongbi-style painting, an ancient form of brush painting that depicts narrative subjects in colorful high detail. She enjoys writing and illustrating stories that celebrate East Asian folklore and philosophy in a modern way. Regina lives with her family in Rhode Island, in the United States.

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Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren

My new picture book, THE EDELWEISS PIRATES, will be published on September 1, 2018.

I am the author of THE WHISPERING TOWN, which has received the Prairie Pasque Book Award and the Andersen Prize (Italy). It has been named a Jane Addams Honor book, an ALA Children's Notable book, a Sydney Taylor Honor book and a National Jewish Book Award finalist. THE WHISPERING TOWN was also named to Booklist's Top 10 Spirituality and Religion Books for Youth list.

I am also the author of JOSIAS, HOLD THE BOOK, which is a Bank Street College Best Books selection and a recipient of the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature.

My work has also been published in Highlights for Children, Ladybug and Spider magazines. I am a former print journal

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Taiye Selasi

Born in London to Nigerian and Ghanaian parents, Taiye Selasi was raised in Massachusetts. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale before returning to England to earn an M.Phil. in International Relations from Oxford. In 2006 Taiye joined the WGAE Screenwriting Lab at Colubmia University, studying under Oscar nominee Zach Sklar (JFK). Sid Ganis will produce her first feature WHITE GIRL, co-written with policy expert and MSNBC contributor Heather McGhee, with Kasi Lemmons (ON BEAUTY) attached to direct, Keke Palmer (AKEELAH & THE BEE) to star. Taiye worked in television production before committing full-time to fiction, screenwriting, and photography. An avid traveler, she aims to visit 100 countries by the age of 50. She lives in Rome.

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Sue Soltis

Sue Soltis is a published poet. She lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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Sara Andrea Fajardo

Sara A. Fajardo is a founding member of #LatinxPitch for KidLit. Her US debut picture book, Crack Goes the Cascarón, illustrated by Rocio Arreola Mendoza, releases on 2/18/25 from Knopf Books for Young Readers. Her second book, Paka Paka Con La Papa: Alberto Salas Plays Potato Hide-and-Seek, illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Juana Martinez-Neal releases on 3/18/25 by Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan. More exciting picture books news coming soon!

When Sara first moved to the United States from her native Peru, her spoken English vocabulary consisted of just one word “monkey.” Thanks to Alisal Elementary, a bilingual school in Salinas, California, she not only expanded her vocabulary, she was also taught to celebrate her mixed heritage. It wa

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Ebony Joy Wilkins

Ebony Joy Wilkins, Ph.D. is an English professor, writer, and Founder of Curriculum Cafe. She is the author of the Mathical Honor Book DK Life Stories Katherine Johnson, If You Traveled On The Underground Railroad, Claudette Colvin Refuses to Move, and more. When I don't have a book or pen in hand I like to visit family, play tennis, try new restaurants, travel to new cities, or relax on the beach. Ebony lives in Chicago, Illinois. Read more about her books and subscription service, Ebony Kids, at ebonyjoywilkins.com and follow her on Instagram at @drebonyjoy, @ebony_kids, and TikTok @ebonykids.

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Allison Wortche

Allison Wortche is a fifteen-year veteran of the children's publishing industry. After graduating from the College of William and Mary, she edited books at Knopf BFYR/Penguin Random House. She now splits her time between writing and freelance editing.

Allison is the author of OLIVER'S LOLLIPOP, ROSIE SPROUT'S TIME TO SHINE, and the I LOVE SCIENCE board book series. To find out more, please visit her at https://www.allisonwortche.com and https://www.instagram.com/allisonwortche.

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Nikkolas Smith

Total similar authors (37)