Samantha Bansil

Samantha Bansil is a Filipino-American fantasy author. She studied sociology and French at Boston University before earning a master’s degree at Institut d’études politiques de Paris. After trying on many a professional hat, she found her way back to her one true love: writing. Her stories often feature big feelings, lush settings, and unlikeable protagonists. A jet-setter at heart, she lives to travel worlds both real and imagined. When she’s not writing, she can be found wandering bookstores and ricocheting between continents. She works in Paris, France, as a content marketer.

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Nora Shalaway Carpenter

Nora Shalaway Carpenter's novels and anthologies have been named "Best of the Year" by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Bank Street Books, and A Mighty Girl, and have won accolades including the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, the Whippoorwill Award for authentic rural fiction, and the Nautilus Award championing "better books for a better world." She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and serves as faculty for the Highlights Foundation's Whole Novel Workshop and Intro to Short Fiction class. Learn more at noracarpenterwrites.com.
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Nikki Alexander

Nikki Alexander is a Harvard educated lawyer who has studied race, gender, and outer space. She strives to tell the story of successful Black women navigating difficult environments in ways that are unexpected in light of traditional narratives, at the same time exploring themes that will appeal to any reader—moral dilemmas, high expectations, and romantic relationships in the face of career and family pressures. When she’s not writing, she enjoys tap dancing and attempting to keep her temperamental houseplants alive.
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Michelle Wong

Michelle Wong is an artist and writer from Hong Kong who worked on the Legend of Korra graphic novels. She loves video games and aesthetically pleasing horror, and currently lives in Vancouver.
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Maren Chase

Maren Chase is a writer and frequent museum-dweller from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She studied history in the UK, where she led tours through monastic cloisters and across plague pits on the weekends. Since returning home, she works in the contemporary art world. Her favorite stories are about vengeful women, forbidden romance, and the inherent angst of immortality.

For more information, visit marenchasewrites.com.
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Julia Riew

Julia Riew is a Korean-American composer-lyricist, librettist, and novelist from St. Louis and NYC. She is best known for her viral hit Dive, a reimagining of the Korean folktale Shimcheong, which has captivated millions online and is currently being developed for the stage at the American Repertory Theater with Tony-Award winning director Diane Paulus and GLAAD-Award winning playwright Diana Son.

Julia also wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the new original musical ENDLESS (dir. by Zi Alikhan, Seoul, 2026), which features an expansive, celestial mythological universe and a cinematic pop score. Julia’s literary work includes upcoming YA fantasy novel The Last Tiger (Penguin Random House, 2025), as well as MG fantasy novel Shim Jung Takes
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Evan Leikam

Evan Leikam is a co-host of the Book Reviews Kill podcast, and a book influencer on TikTok and Instagram.
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Maren Chase

Maren Chase is a writer and frequent museum-dweller from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She studied history in the UK, where she led tours through monastic cloisters and across plague pits on the weekends. Since returning home, she works in the contemporary art world. Her favorite stories are about vengeful women, forbidden romance, and the inherent angst of immortality.

For more information, visit marenchasewrites.com.
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Venessa Vida Kelley

Venessa is a Nuyorican author, illustrator, and aspiring mermaid who writes fairy tales about the real world so she can draw them too. They hold a BA and MA in English literature with concentrations in film from the University of Delaware and the George Washington University respectively, and their illustrations have decorated LGBTQ+ books worldwide. Venessa lives in Washington, DC, with their spouse, two sons, and an overabundance of teacups and washi tape.
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V.L. Bovalino

V.L. Bovalino is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and now lives in the UK. She loves obscure academic facts, folklore, and oversized sweaters. Find her on online as @toribovalino.

She also writes books for young adults as Tori Bovalino.
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M.H. Ayinde

M. H. Ayinde is the Sunday Times bestselling author of epic fantasy novel A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST (Orbit UK/Saga Press). Her short fiction has appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine, F&SF, Fantasy Magazine, and elsewhere, and she was the 2021 winner of the Future Worlds Prize. She is a runner, a lapsed martial artist, and a screen time enthusiast. She lives in London with three generations of her family and their Studio Ghibli obsession.
Find her on Bluesky / Instagram / TikTok as @mhayinde
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S.A. MacLean

S. A. MacLean is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Phoenix Keeper, and holds a PhD in environmental science. After over a decade of battling seagulls and wading through mud on the arctic tundra, she now writes fantasy books filled with strange creatures and plenty of kisses.
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Sylvie Cathrall

Sylvie Cathrall writes stories of hope and healing with healthy doses of wonder and whimsy. She holds a graduate degree in odd Victorian art and has handled more than a few nineteenth-century letters (with great care). Sylvie married her former pen pal and lives in the mountains, where she dresses impractically and dreams of the sea.

You can find Sylvie on Instagram @sylviecathrall.

Author's portrait by Inês Dinis: @inestheunicorn.
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K.X. Song

K. X. Song is a diaspora writer with roots in Hong Kong and Shanghai. An Echo in the City is her debut novel. Visit her online at kxsong.com.
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Sophie Kim

Sophie Kim is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of stories that feature mythology, monsters, mystery, and magic. Her critically acclaimed work includes young adult novels such as the Talons series, as well as books on the adult spectrum such as The God and the Gumiho.

Profile illustration by @warickaart.
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Barbara Truelove

I write about werewolves and sometimes other things.
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Neon Yang

Neon Yang, formerly J.Y. Yang, is a Singaporean writer of English-language speculative fiction. Yang is non-binary and queer, and uses they/them pronouns.

Yang has written a series of "silkpunk" novellas, and has published short fiction since 2012. Their novella The Black Tides of Heaven was nominated for the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella, the 2018 Kitschies Golden Tentacle and the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Yang's work revolves around "the human body as a vessel for storytelling", and is based on their background as a molecular biologist, journalist and science communicator.
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Emily Tesh

EMILY TESH is a UK-based author of science fiction and fantasy. Her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Tesh is also a winner of the Astounding Award, and the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Greenhollow duology.
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Jackson Ford

Jackson Ford is the author of The Frost Files series, including The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind and Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air). He may or may not be the alter ego of author Rob Boffard, but he is definitely 100% a jackass.

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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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Megan E. O'Keefe

Megan E. O'Keefe was raised amongst journalists, and as soon as she was able joined them by crafting a newsletter which chronicled the daily adventures of the local cat population. She lives in the Bay Area of California, and spends her free time tinkering with anything she can get her hands on.

Her fantasy debut, Steal the Sky, won the Gemmell Morningstar Award and her space opera debut, Velocity Weapon was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.
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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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Elaine Ho

Elaine Ho is an award-winning Asian-American illustrator and author. She bounces between the US and Singapore, belonging to both and neither. Ho’s work primarily explores themes of identity and home, while also being drawn to the broken and the beautiful. She originally received a degree in psychology before pivoting into art full-time. Find her work at artofelaineho.com.
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Michael Zapata

Michael Zapata is a founding editor of MAKE Literary Magazine and the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is a recipient of a Meier Foundation Artist Achievement Award. He is on the faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. As a public-school educator, he taught literature and writing in high schools servicing drop out students. He currently lives in Chicago with his family.
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Barbara Truelove

I write about werewolves and sometimes other things.
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Charlie Jane Anders

My latest book is Victories Greater Than Death. Coming in August: Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times By Making Up Stories.

Previously: All the Birds in the Sky, The City in the Middle of the Night, and a short story collection, Six Months, Three Days, Five Others.

Coming soon: An adult novel, and a short story collection called Even Greater Mistakes.

I used to write for a site called io9.com, and now I write for various places here and there.

I won the Emperor Norton Award, for “extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason.” I've also won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, a William H. Crawford Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award, a Locus Award and a Lambda Literary Award.

My stories, e
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Tessa Gratton

Tessa Gratton is the author of adult and YA SFF novels and short stories that have been translated into twenty-two languages, nominated twice for the Otherwise Award, and several have been Junior Library Guild Selections. Her most recent novels are the dark queer fairy tales Strange Grace and Night Shine, and queer the Shakespeare retelling Lady Hotspur. Her upcoming work includes the YA fantasy Chaos and Flame (2023), and novels of Star Wars: The High Republic. Though she has lived all over the world, she currently resides at the edge of the Kansas prairie with her wife. Queer, nonbinary, she/any.
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Elaine Ho

Elaine Ho is an award-winning Asian-American illustrator and author. She bounces between the US and Singapore, belonging to both and neither. Ho’s work primarily explores themes of identity and home, while also being drawn to the broken and the beautiful. She originally received a degree in psychology before pivoting into art full-time. Find her work at artofelaineho.com.
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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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U.M. Agoawike

U.M. Agoawike is a Nigerian-Canadian author of short stories with vibes for plot and SFF books featuring everything but the kitchen sink. When not writing, U.M. can be found drawing, watching horror movies, or reading fanfiction.
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Kim Narby

Kim Narby is a queer fiction writer and essayist from Seattle. She has organized with the New York City Dyke March, is a contributor at Write or Die Magazine, and is an alum of the Tin House Summer Workshop. Kim lives in Brooklyn with her anxious-attached emotional support cocker spaniel, Georgia. You can find her on social media @kimnarby.
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