AUTHORS

Jillian Amodio LMSW is a licensed mental health provider, Certified Sex Therapy Informed Professional, sex educator, and psychology professor. She has appeared in mainstream media hundreds of times, and is regularly featured as an industry expert in print, online, television, radio, and podcasts. Jillian is the founder of Moms For Mental Health.    

     Jillian Amodio’s current manuscript, POWERFULLY PREPARED: AN INFORMATIONAL GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING YOUR BODY, takes a holistic, interactive, mind-body approach to modern sex education. It covers topics that are excluded from traditional puberty preparation books, such as gender identity, neurodivergence, disabilities, mindfulness, body positivity, and diverse family structures.  

Mir Arif is a Bangladeshi author living in Ohio. His recent fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Sierra Nevada Review, Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine, The Bangalore Review, Arts & Letters, Himal Southasian, and elsewhere. One of his short stories was longlisted for the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. He obtained his MFA in fiction from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), held the position of nonfiction editor at Witness Magazine, and worked as a copyeditor for The Believer.
    He teaches English Composition at Columbus State Community College and is currently at work on both his debut story collection, ADRIFT, and a novel, THE SECOND INTERPRETATION.

Dylan Aubrey is an impulsive Canadian who went on a trip to Wales seven years ago, saw a castle, and decided to stay forever. She has a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Women and Gender Studies from Carleton University in Ottawa. She’s a romance writer dedicated to crafting resilient, imperfect, and deeply relatable heroines who navigate tumultuous times with humor and pluck.

     When she’s not busy writing into the wee hours of the morning, Dylan can be found on a sandy beach in beautiful South Wales chasing after her collection of small children and large dogs.

    Dylan is currently working on her debut novel, LESSONS IN ROMANCE, an enemies-to-lovers rom-com about a romance-loving postdoctoral fellow and a romance-hating professor.

 Kato Bisase is a Ugandan-American poet, essayist and entrepreneur who has just finished his Creative Writing MA from San Francisco State University. His work dances with a wide spectrum of topics and tensions, among them: human depth in a cursory world, the African experience in the American context, the Black experience in non-Black spaces . . . and the beautiful anxieties conceived inside all of them. 

     Kato is currently completing his first collection of poems and short stories, a work of auto-fiction called THE SMOKING NURSE.

Dr. Rashmi Bismark, MD, MPH is a mom, writer, and board-certified physician specialized in Preventive Medicine whose clinical practice is focused on facilitating mindfulness-based programs to support whole health. Her experience in public health, health behavior, lifestyle medicine, and complementary therapies informs her work as a certified yoga and mindfulness meditation teacher. A dedicated student-practitioner of yoga, she guides meditation for Yoga Medicine courses and classes online. 

     Rashmi has long been inspired by a deep curiosity and love for the spiritual and healing traditions of her elders from Kerala, India. Her first picture book, FINDING OM, illustrated by Morgan Huff, introduces practices of mantra, mindfulness, and meditation for kids and their grown-ups. 

Andrea Bradley is a YA author, college professor, and former lawyer, who lives in a small town outside of Toronto. She is passionate about chronic illness representation and writes novels filled with humor, romance, friendship and joy. She also writes literary and speculative short fiction and has published short stories with Grain Magazine and Exile Editions, among others.
    Her current manuscript is a YA novel about a junior getting used to a new high school and new friends, while managing a love quadrangle and the world's worst stomach aches.

Mya (Mia) Byrne is a celebrated poet and storyteller/singer/songwriter also drawn to writing picture books and Y.A. novels. Out and proud, Mya is a leader for the presence of queer trans women in country music. She is the first out, queer, trans woman to be an official Gibson artist. A firecracker guitarist, her work for social justice drives her passionate, fiery music, and yet she’s an absolute sweetheart who will make you cookies at midnight if you ask nicely. 

     Mya’s picture book writing debut, THE BEAT OF MY FEET, is a semi-autobiographical look at the moment she started to write music in her head on walks home from elementary school.

For over 15 years, Shauna worked as a creative director, designer, and illustrator on a wide variety of award-winning art and writing teams. Her art reflects the hours she spends outdoors, immersed in weird and wild places. She writes and illustrates books that are emotional, clever, and funny, including ADDIE AND THE AMAZING ACROBATS (Hippo Park 2023), which spotlights a flawed and appealing little bat. Her debut for adults is illustrated and written in collaboration with Jordi Hertz. WHY DIDN'T YOU BITCHES TELL ME? is a provocative look at perimenopause & will be released by Urano (Sept, 2026). 

     Shauna lives in Maplewood, NJ with her husband and their two mostly feral, often bare-chested boys.

Karen Myna Cantor is a Young Adult fiction writer based on the East Coast. Now a mapmaker, she spent several years working as an environmental scientist in a Florida town notorious for Florida Man stories.
    Her current manuscript is a contemporary YA novel about two queer teenagers in rural South Florida who decide to put their town on the map in the worst way possible—by staging a (fake) disaster. Her debut novel was acquired by Holiday House in a 2-book deal at auction, and will be published Summer 2026. 

Tegan Cassell is a fantasy author living in Australia with a background in medical science. She has been writing since she was young, and has always loved losing herself in the magic of fictional worlds. When she’s not writing you’ll find her walking her dog and daydreaming about stories featuring powerful female characters.

    Tegan’s current debut project, GOLDEN BONES, is a New Adult fantasy romance about two rival pirate captains forced to work together in pursuit of a wish that will grant their freedom. 

Lauren Chaitoff is a mind-body-fitness expert who founded Yogi Beans, the children’s yoga company, in 2007. Yogi Beans enables kids ages 18 months to teenagers to explore and experience the body-mind-heart foundations of yoga through content-rich programs specifically designed for them. Through partnerships with American Girl, Rosewood Hotels, Four Seasons Hotel, Equinox, and The Ronald McDonald House, among others, Yogi Beans has become a respected name in the children's wellness and kids yoga world.

      Lauren's latest creation is a visual book of yoga poses and associated imagery titled the 108 AWESOME YOGA POSES FOR KIDS (Page Street Kids, 2023).

Born in Detroit to Arab immigrants, Hayan Charara is a poet, children’s book author, essayist, and editor. His latest poetry collection, These Trees, Those Leaves, This Flower, That Fruit, was recently published by Milkweed Editions. His children’s book, The Three Lucys (Lee and Low 2019), received the New Voices Award Honor, and he edited Inclined to Speak, an anthology of contemporary Arab American poetry. With Fady Joudah, he is also a series editor of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. Hayan lives in Texas, where he teaches at The Honors College at the University of Houston.

      His newest work, HUSH, LITTLE CHILDREN, will be published by Flexible Press in Fall 2025. His novel follows a couple trying to get pregnant just as a child suicide epidemic breaks out and a fringe group led by a charismatic leader uses disinformation and fear to advance ideologies rooted in hatred.

Writer/Illustrator Melizza Santrom Chernov creates books for young readers and is working on a YA novel. She’s a Professor of Visual Art at Clark University (Massachusetts). As the first American-born child of Guyanese immigrants, her inspiration comes from both West Indian and American cultures. 

     Melizza is interested in stories that explore inclusivity, mythology, and fantasy. Her past projects include an illustrated picture book for Blue Whale Press and editorial illustrations for magazines. 

     Her current project CLEO AND THE WOBBLY WALL is a picture book about a child much more comfortable using her big imagination to create epic worlds than playing with friends. What will happen when her new next door neighbor shares her point of view?

Emily Chibwana is an author/illustrator living in Melbourne, Australia. She joyfully creates stories that allow her six biracial, neurodiverse children to see themselves reflected in the pages of her books. Being neurospicy herself, Emily often has multiple projects on the go. At the moment those include (in no particular order) picture books, a middle grade novel, and an early-reader graphic novel, participation in multiple local art exhibitions, and expanding her rock collection one pebble at a time. 

B.B. Cohen is an award-winning writer, professor, and performer. In his writing, Benjamin likes to  play with dark and challenging material from an honest, comedic perspective. Raised in Atlanta and based in Brooklyn, Benjamin worked on projects selected by the Austin Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and The High Museum of Art. He also appears in the Emmy-Nominated PBS short documentary, "What Makes a Great Book." Benjamin has taught Writing and Film History at NYFA since 2012 and is an active member of the WGA-East. When he's not writing, teaching, or performing comedy on the NYC stage, you can find Benjamin with his lovely wife and two dogs.

     His debut graphic novel-in-progress, UNDRAFTED, explores the intersections of mental health and toxic masculinity in the NBA.

Laura Collins is an Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist based in New York. Born in Scotland, Laura studied English Language and Literature at Oxford and gained a postgraduate BSc in Literary Interpretation and Theory from the University of Edinburgh. Her best-selling biography, KATE MOSS: THE COMPLETE PICTURE, was published by Pan Macmillan (2008). 

     As an investigative journalist, Laura has spent a decade crisscrossing America in pursuit of criminal justice stories. Her debut collection of short fiction, THE ART OF LEAVING, draws on that rich seam to inform a series of dark, and transgressive tales. She’s currently working on PROPERTY OF THE STATE (NF), a close examination of systemic corruption in jails.

Linnea Cooley is a non-binary writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area who uses she/they pronouns. Their work can be found in McSweeney's, Pif Magazine, and The Roadrunner Review, among other publications. In 2020, Linnea was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for the Jiménez-Porter Literary Prize. 

   Linnea's work in progress, FEEDING CHILDREN TO BEARS, is a young adult novel set at an overnight summer camp. The novel follows a socially anxious cabin leader who comes to terms with her bisexuality after her relationship with her best friend implodes.

 William Cowan, Ph.D. is an environmental historian and Assistant Professor of Environmental & Health Justice at Cal Poly Pomona. He studies extremes in weather and water in the North American West. His dissertation, “The Pacific Slope Superstorms & the Big Winter of 1861-1862,” is the first historical reconstruction of one of the wettest winters in American history and a deep dive into the history and significance of atmospheric rivers. Will says, “Although Atmospheric Rivers were named by climate scientist Yong Zhu in 1998, Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest have stewarded knowledge of these rivers in the sky and their kinship to the rivers on the land for time immemorial.”

Author/illustrator Lynn Curlee has published fourteen magnificently illustrated, non-fiction picture books for middle grade and YA readers. His YA biography The Great Nijinsky was a 2020 YALSA Finalist. Three of his books, Capital, Liberty and Rushmore, were chosen by the Barbara Bush Literacy Campaign as their book of the year. Curlee has won numerous awards for his work, including but not limited to a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book (Brooklyn Bridge), Orbis Pictus Award (Rushmore), ALA Notable Books for Children (Liberty), and Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year (Parthenon).

     Lynn's latest book, THE OTHER PANDEMIC: AN AIDS MEMOIR (Charlesbridge Teen, 2023) is a searing, photo-illustrated, historical memoir from the LGBTQIA+ frontlines of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s.

During her forty-year career in Washington, DC, Carol Darr served as General Counsel to the Democratic National Committee, as counsel to two presidential campaigns, and as a senior political appointee in both the Clinton and Obama Administrations. Later, she led George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, served as an Adjunct Professor at GW’s School of Political Management, and taught Politics and New Media at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

    Carol's new manuscript, MACHIAVELLI 4 EVERYBODY, puts his outrageous, irreverent, and very practical advice into plain English….a book that she had promised herself back in college that she would one day write. 

Allison L. Davis is a young adult romance author living in (mostly) sunny South Carolina. She graduated from the College of Charleston with a bachelor’s degree in English and a deep love of storytelling. She combines lessons learned over millions of rough drafts with the curious tenacity of the little girl she once was, writing short stories in a notebook to share with her classmates.

   Allison's first book, LESSONS IN LETTING GO, will be published by Penguin Workshop Spring 2027.  Strangely enough, with some inspiration from The Walking Dead and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Allison’s young adult romance novel, like all her stories, centers on teens of color stumbling their way through life and learning to fall in love with the journey, themselves, and each other along the way.

 Lissette Decos is a Cuban-American television producer and MTV veteran with over 15 years’ experience in reality formats of the love-wedding-relationship-disaster variety (i.e. Say Yes to the Dress and 90 Day Fiancé).  

    Her second rom-com, TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE, is an enemies-to-lovers tale set in Puerto Rico's music industry. Think You Had Me at Hola meets Dirty Dancing!    

Diane deGroat is the Author/Illustrator of the beloved Gilbert and Friends series, and illustrator of Ree Drummond’s wildly successful Charlie the Ranch Dog series. 

      Diane deGroat’s latest picture book is THE ADVENTURES OF ROBO-KID, tracking two parallel stories, one in the real world and one inside a comic book.  They intersect when the real-life kid and the comic book superhero find they need each other’s help. The Adventures of Robo-Kid was published by Neal Porter Books/Holiday House in 2022. 

Dhaval Desai was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and completed his undergraduate studies at Emory University. He completed medical school at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten, performed his clinical years of medical school in New York City, and had the opportunity to rotate through various community hospitals. He is board certified in both internal medicine and pediatrics and is currently Director of Hospital Medicine at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. He is also a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Over the past several years, he has developed a passion for the patient and human experience in medicine through sharing perspectives, knowledge, and stories. 

     His memoir, BURNING OUT ON THE COVID FRONTLINES: A Doctor's Memoir of Fatherhood, Race, and Perserverance in the Pandemic, was published by McFarland in 2023. 

Carly Diaz is an author of YA thriller and horror. Born in Miami, FL, she graduated from Emory University in 2021 with highest honors and now lives in New York City. In her free time, you can find her wandering through Central Park or practicing the guitar. 

     Carly is currently working on a YA thriller about the mysterious death of a young actress in Hollywood and the lengths her best friend will go to find the killer.

Nancy Drosd is a painter working in New York City. Since 2001 she has had four solo shows and participated in three group shows at the Tatistcheff Gallery in Chelsea. Her work is included in The Smithsonian, has been shown at the Queens and Brooklyn Museums and is in the collection of Richard Mayer, Allan Stone, Johnson & Johnson, The New York Health and Hospitals Corporation and Lehman College among others.

     Nancy is currently working on an adult graphic memoir titled COMPULSION: THE ABC'S OF OCD. 

 Robin Storey Dunn was born to a German immigrant family in a small West Texas town. She left home at sixteen, queer, punk, and feral, and was rescued by an all-Black spiritualist church. She lived communally with the congregation for ten years, trying and failing to become a saint. Ultimately, she was delivered from fundamentalism to a pragmatic understanding of the importance, and, the soul of kindness. Today, she lives with her wife and children in Austin, Texas, in the same neighborhood where she was once homeless and struggling for redemption. 

     Her debut novel, SOME KINDA LOVE, tells a story that carries readers across juxtaposed cultures of white and Black, punk and gospel, queer identity and religious extremism. 

Originally from Philadelphia, Chris has also lived in Berkeley, Paris, Sydney, Berlin, Antwerp, Chicago, and now Atlanta, where he teaches Health Humanities at Emory University. He is the author of Dysfluencies: On Speech Disorders in Modern Literature (Bloomsbury 2014). His fiction has appeared in AGNI, Louisiana Literature, and Sortes.  He received his Ph.D. in English Lit from U.C. Berkeley and is a former Fulbright scholar.

      His debut novel is a dark comedy titled DWELL HERE AND PROSPER, based on a diary his father kept while recovering from a stroke in a dysfunctional assisted living facility somewhere in Delco, PA. It was published by Tortoise Books in 2023 with the audiobook simultaneously published by Blackstone Audio.

Annie Evans has won 13 Emmy Awards for her work on many children’s television series including Sesame Street, Oswald the Octopus (Nickelodeon), Jojo’s Circus (Disney Channel), and Pinkalicious (WGBH). She was the story editor for multiple international Sesame Street productions including Sisumpur (Bangladesh), Galli Galli Sim Sim (India) and Jalan Sesama (Indonesia). Annie has written and story edited Sesame Streetstage musicals for Sesame Street Live, Sesame Place, SeaWorld, Busch Garden, Beaches, Universal Studios, as well as touring companies around the world.

     Currently, Annie is producing her original family play Aanika’s Elephants, with performances slated for 2023-25 in North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, the New Victory Theatre in New York City and the Chicago International Puppetry Festival. 

Naila Farouky is a Peabody Award-winning Executive Producer with extensive experience in developing and producing quality children's programming. Of Palestinian-Egyptian origin, with dual Jordanian and American citizenship, Naila has worked as an Executive Producer and Project Manager on Sesame Street co-productions in 17 countries around the world. She is currently the CEO of the Arab  Foundations Forum based in Cairo.  

Cindy Faughnan writes contemporary middle grade fiction that often takes place in Vermont where she taught seventh and eighth grade English, hiked through the woods and fields, and milked cows. She completed an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts and was a recipient of the PEN New England Children’s Book Caucus Discovery Award.

     Her current project, a contemporary middle grade novel, ROCK, PAPER, SISTERS explores the love and changing relationship between two sisters, one of whom has had a recent mental health crisis. 

Emma Fick’s BORDER CROSSINGS: A JOURNEY ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY, was published by Harper Design in 2022. The extraordinary book chronicles her epic train journey from Beijing to Moscow in 240 pages of watercolor illustrations and hand-written text.

     Emma started drawing and writing in this style while on a Fulbright Scholarship in Serbia, teaching English. She began to chronicle Serbian culture, from grandiose themes to minute details, in a series of watercolor illustrations she called “Snippets.” Eventually she published both Snippets of Serbia (Komshe), and Snippets of New Orleans (UL Press).  

Chris Fleming is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities at Western Sydney University, where he is also a member of the Writing and Society Research Center. He is the author or editor of ten books and has written widely on literature, philosophy, and culture. His fiction and nonfiction work has appeared in both scholarly and popular media, including The Guardian, The Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, The LA Review of Books, Parallax, The Saturday Paper, and The Chronicle Review.

      His most recent project, ON DRUGS, is an equally humorous and contemplative memoir that discusses addiction, obsession, the intellect, and masculinity. 

Ella Grace Foutz is an emerging writer who is proud to be a rookie. Ella grew up in northern Ohio and now lives in Virginia, where she will have her Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Southern Virginia University as of May 2024. At SVU, Ella had the opportunity to work personally with Orson Scott Card (New York Times bestselling author of “Ender’s Game”). Ella has built a rapidly-growing following on social media, where readers across the globe engage with the poetry she shares regularly on her Instagram account (@e.g.poetry). When away from her notebooks, she is also a performing musician, bread-maker, and passionate distance runner. 

     Her debut LULLABIES FOR THE INSOMNIACS, a YA memoir-in-verse about a teenager coming to terms with her bi-polar diagnosis, will be published by Zest Books in 2025. 

Kermit Frazier has been a writer—both a playwright and a television writer—as well  as a teacher of writing, literature, and theater for nearly forty years. He is a recipient of the McKnight Foundation Fellowship in Playwriting. As a television writer, Frazier has written for such television series as the popular children’s mystery series Ghostwriter (which he helped to create and for which he was a head writer), Gullah Gullah Island (co-producer and executive story editor), and many more.

        His memoir, FIRST ACTS: A BLACK PLAYWRIGHT COMES OF AGE, was published by McFarland Books in 2022.

Mariam Gates is the bestselling author of the Good Night Yoga series and many more books for young people. She has a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and years of experience in the classroom as a Mindfulness Educator and Special Education Teacher. Mariam and her work have been featured in numerous publications including Parents, Time for KiDS and New York Magazine. 

     Her new book OLIVE ALL AT ONCE (Sounds True, March 2024) follows the titular character as she navigates the many (and sometimes contradictory) ways she feels about significant events in her life and shows young readers that it’s okay to feel many different ways—all at once.

Jessica Greaves is a YA fiction writer from the South Coast of Australia. After spending five years working as a materials engineer, she transitioned into manufacturing operations, where she is passionate about promoting girls in STEM and fostering an inclusive industry future. She spends her free time reading, learning languages, and obsessing about medieval and early modern history.
    Her current manuscript is a YA historical fantasy set in the magical underworld of 1920s Venice. It is inspired by her love of history and travel.

Originally from The Bay Area, Jessica lives in Davis, California with her husband and 3 young daughters. Jessica has a background teaching Special Education but left the field to pursue a career in writing. She’s written articles for ScaryMommy, Filter Free Parents, Mom.com, Sonoma Family Life Magazine and others. With over a decade of sobriety, Jessica is a fierce advocate for addiction recovery. 

    Her debut novel is a work of upmarket book club fiction titled BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, in which an alcoholic mother's obsession with her mother-in-law’s perfectionism forces her to acknowledge the villain in the mirror. Jessica's debut was acquired by Harper Muse in a 2-book deal preempt.

Blair Hanson is a contemporary young adult fiction writer from New Jersey. After recently finishing a graduate program in environmental science, he now works as a quality assurance professional and chemist for a water quality lab. In his free time, Blair enjoys falling down Wikipedia wormholes and cuddling with the world's most adorable (and neediest) cats.

     His current project, AMERICA'S NOT-SO SWEETHEART, was acquired by Page Street Publishing and is set for Spring 2025. It features a reformed reality TV villain who embarks on a high-profile road trip across the Midwest to win back his ex-boyfriend and repair his tattered reputation. As the trip progresses, however, he realizes he doesn't actually want either of those things. HC: Rachal Duggan

Janet Harvey-Nevala is an award-winning writer of comic books, movies and games. As a comic book creator, she wrote the YALSA finalist Angel City for Oni Press, The Curie Society from MIT Press, and the first adventure of Cassandra Cain in No Man’s Land for DC Comics. As a game writer, she was the staff writer on the DC Universe Online MMORPG. Her feature film debut, A Million Hits, screened at festivals around the world and was distributed by Summer Hill Films. 

     Janet's current project, HIGH STREET HELLCATS, is a YA graphic novel akin to a queer, female Peaky Blinders, and has been developed in collaboration with Angel City illustrator Megan Levens.

Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Justin Haynes is a novelist and short story writer. He has been awarded various fiction residencies and fellowships including the Tin House summer workshop and the Nicholas Jenkins Barnett fiction fellowship from Emory University. His writing has been publishing in a variety of literary magazines and journals, including Caribbean Quarterly, the Hawai’i Review, and Pree. Justin currently lives and works in Atlanta. 

     His debut novel, IBIS, will be published in early 2025 by Abrams/Overlook Press. 

Jordi Hertz has been using design to tell stories for nearly 30 years. From publications to higher ed, corporations to not-for-profits, her work and life have spanned U.S. coasts and Latin America. As the Creative Director for YouthTruth, an education non-profit, she strives to use her craft to inspire and facilitate positive change. 

     Jordi's collaboration with author/illustrator Shauna Cagan, the humorous, non-fiction chat with women of a certain age, WHY DIDN'T YOU BITCHES TELL ME? has been acquired by Urano (Sept, 2026 release). Jordi lives in Connecticut with her husband and kids. Her favorite places are the Oregon coast and her dining table, where she likes to gather friends and family.

Jody has written stories since she could hold a pencil. She now lives and writes in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her work reflects Virginia's complicated histories, social oddities, and unique vistas and explores family fragmentation, gender dynamics, and socioeconomic disparities.

    Jody is the author of the story collection WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO FEEL BETTER (Cornerstone Press) and the novel WITHOUT YOU HERE (Flexible Press). She teaches at WriterHouse in Charlottesville, Virginia, serves as assistant fiction editor for The Los Angeles Review, and is currently at work on her next novel, WATCHDOG.

Matt Hogan was born and raised in Philadelphia. He is a board-certified internist and is currently the Director of Hospital Medicine at Emory Decatur Hospital and Emory Long Term Acute Care Hospital. At an early age, Matt fell in love with both science and comedy, and he employed those passions to pursue his career and influence his writing. Matt currently lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife and two children. 

     His current project is a collection of personal essays that reflect on the absurdities of life and medicine through a humorous and self-deprecating lens. FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE will be published by Bloomsbury in 2025.

 Caitlan “C.G.” Honer grew up spinning intricate tales for her childhood dolls, eventually graduating to novels and a Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing. Over the last ten years of writing, she fell in love with fantasy and character driven stories; both of which are prominent in her self-published short-story anthology, These Gilded Bones May Bloom. Based in the evergreen, ever cloudy PNW, she feels at home amidst the grey–morally or otherwise. If she isn’t drafting new traumas and tension-filled moments for the characters in her head, she’s probably curled up with a book, entertaining the occasional existential crisis, or spending time with family. 

     Her current manuscript is a young adult crossover romantasy-mystery that follows enemies forced to steal the identity of a husband and wife while stowing aboard a ship, only to realize there’s a murderer on board and they may now be the targets.

Gregory D. Johnsen has been a Fulbright Fellow in Yemen, a Fulbright-Hays Fellow in Egypt, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan. He served two years on the Yemen Panel of Experts at the UN Security Council and was BuzzFeed’s inaugural Michael Hastings National Security Reporting Fellow, where he won a Dirksen Award from the National Press Foundation and, in collaboration with Radiolab, a Peabody Award. Johnsen has a PhD from Princeton and is currently the associate director of the Institute for Future Conflict at the United States Air Force Academy.

     His writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including the New York Times and the Atlantic. His current novel, The Fatherless, is a haunting triptych about the value of a single life that asks if the present can ever truly redeem the past.

Before she wrote fiction, Lauren Johnson spent many years working in and writing for the theatre. Her plays and commissions have been performed in venues such as the Houston Shakespeare Festival, Stages Repertory Theatre, and The Smokebrush Theatre Festival. After leaving the theatre, Lauren worked for many years as a communications professional in California and New York, ultimately founding her own consulting company focused on strategic communications. She left the corporate world to write full-time in 2018; to date, her short fiction has been published in Tertulia Magazine, The Rambler, Better Culture & Literature, and the Los Angeles Review. Her story “Casualties” was named Honorable Mention in Zoetrope Magazine’s All-Story Contest. 

     Her first novel, 444 Days, was recently completed; she is currently at work on the next, while preparing to pitch an adult non-fiction title designed to provoke readers to expand their gustatory horizons.

Judith Joseph is a Chicago-based artist whose paintings, woodblocks, and calligraphic works are held in many collections. As a child, Judith’s love for art was inspired by picture books and her precocious interest in illuminated manuscripts: the more she looked, the more she saw. Joseph brings the influence of intensely detailed narratives to her illustrations and books.

      Her author/illustrator debut is TOBY AND SONIA, a story is based on true-life. Toby, a bright and bold child, rescues Sonia, her beloved cow, away from the Kaiser’s army.  

Maryam Kia is an author, professor, and child psychologist whose writing blends themes of compassion, interconnectedness, and courage. Her unique perspective is shaped by early years of emigration, crossing borders, and immersion in new languages. Her family eventually settled on the island of O'ahu, among tropical abundance and the wonder of rainbows. 

     Maryam’s current projects include a poetic call to climate action. A fiction picture book, based on her own biography, A SUITCASE FULL will be published by Free Spirit Press in Summer 2026.

Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh is an author, journalist and editor who lives in Los Angeles. She is an ardent advocate for children of all abilities, and volunteers with local and national organizations to spread the message of assuming competence in every child. Her current feature-writing "home" is National Geographic KIDS and National Geographic Family, where she writes about incredible animals and amazing places on Earth and ways kids can help to protect them.

     Jamie is thrilled to collaborate with her childhood best friend Amanda Lee Summers on their current project, CANDY KITTY LAND, an early chapter book series for ages 6-9.

Bonnie Kelso, the 2021 SCBWI Karen Cushman Award winner, is an author-illustrator with a love for writing and illustrating informational fiction for kids. Gnome Road published her debut picture book, Nudi Gill, in 2023, and will publish three more of her books through 2026. She is illustrating In A Cave by Heather Kinser for Gnome Road, as well. Bonnie has a professional background in graphic and exhibit design and spent years working on projects for NASA, National Geographic, and the Smithsonian Institution.

     Her forthcoming picture book, QUAIL TRAIL (Muddy Boots, 2024), is a funny, informational fiction story about the importance of listening, self-awareness, and making good choices. 

David Kohn is a writer and journalist. Over his career, he has worked for a wide range of media outlets, including CBS News and The Baltimore Sun, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post and on NPR. He lives in Baltimore with his wife and two children. 

     David's latest manuscript, OFF COURSE, is an action-packed, darkly comic crime novel about Frank Robinson, a former fighter pilot who gets into serious debt and takes a gig as a narcopilot, transporting coke for the Albanian mob. When he tries to quit, he finds that leaving isn’t so easy.

Tanya Konerman is a picture book author who writes at the intersection of nature, verse, and prose. When not at her keyboard, she can most often be found outdoors, hiking or exploring in the Midwest or Southwest, while adding birds to her life list. 

     Tanya’s story, “Danger in the Dunes,” is anthologized in, THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA (Macmillan; 2024). Her debut picture book, MUD TO THE RESCUE! was released by Web of Life (Spring 2025).      

     Tanya’s newest picture book, OTIS, THE KING OF KATMAI, a NF PB about the most famous Alaskan Fat Bear has been acquired by Charlesbridge.

Brian LaRossa’s conceptual poetry is held in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art Library. He teaches critical writing at The City College of New York, and owns a type foundry which developed a typeface for Google Fonts. 

     By day, he’s an executive art director in the hardcover picture book group at Scholastic. Brian’s outstanding design and illustration skills have received recognition from respected institutions such as the Type Directors Club and the Society of Illustrators. With his background in visual storytelling and critical writing, Brian has a unique perspective to offer.

 Carolyn Lé is an author, illustrator, and art teacher. Her stories celebrate the diverse world she grew up in, honor family dynamics, and are inspired by her students. Her work has received numerous awards and has been shown in galleries in London and Los Angeles. She has illustrated for Arbordale Publishing. 

    Carolyn’s most current project, THE WARMEST HUG, is a PB about the abiding nature of love and sorrow, and a Halloween inspired picture book featuring monsters who overcome established norms.

Aura Lewis is an author, artist, and designer renowned for her feminist, historical, and politically-themed works. Inspired by women’s history, fashion, social activism and culture from around the world, Aura’s work has been exhibited internationally and is featured in books for both children and adults, on television, film, stationery, ad campaigns, branding, murals, and editorial publications. 

     Aura holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Great Dog Literary represents her work for adult readers.

Regina Linke is a Taiwanese American writer and illustrator who blends traditional Chinese, meticulous-style brush painting with digital art techniques. Her favorite subjects include themes and characters out of East Asian philosophy, religion, and folklore. Her Instagram webcomic The Oxherd Boy reaches a highly engaged audience from all over the world and has been translated to more than ten languages by volunteer fans.

      Her latest project is adapting THE OXHERD BOY comic into both an adult gift book (Potter Gift 2024) and a series of picture books for children (Little Brown Young Readers, 2025). 

Lofton learned the power of story-telling and compelling narratives as an actor. Today, when not writing for adults and young adults, he’s a Senior Advisor at the Library of Congress, where he’s surrounded by books and people who love them.

     The author’s prose is infused with a voice gleaned from his Georgia childhood. His characters live on the fringes and face bullies who belittle them for sport, or well-meaning adults who simply don’t know how to nurture and guide these outsider children. His debut novel, RED CLAY SUZIE (Post Hill Press, 2023) was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, named an Indie Next List Pick by the American Booksellers Association, and was awarded the Seven Hills Literary Prize for Fiction. Lofton is the Spring 2024 Pat Conroy Literary Center Writer-in-Residence and lives in Washington, D.C. with his husband Erich.

Gabriela Lyon is a Chilean artist, illustrator, and picture book creator of works published  around the globe, and, in languages from Spanish to Korean. One of her most acclaimed is 9 Kilómetros (Ekaré Sur, 2020 & Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2023). 9 Kilometers was chosen as a Los 10 Mejores Libros Para Pequeños by the New York Public Library in 2022 and selected by the Junior Library Guide 2023. Pequeña Historia de un Desacuerdo (A Small History of a Disagreement, Ekaré sur, 2017) was published in Canada by Greystone Kids.

      Gabriela teaches drawing while continuing to dedicate herself to what she loves most: telling stories in pictures. She is currently developing on her own project, a book about the sheep dogs of Patagonia. She always tries to include at least one image of an animal in her work.

As an artist who made his reputation working with material that was “100% Guaranteed Overheard,” Stan Mack has one of the most distinctive voices in American letters. Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies, the strip he drew weekly for the Village Voice for more than twenty years, has had an outsized impact on the development of one of today’s most popular and culturally revered forms—the literary graphic novel. 

      His latest project is the retrospective STAN MACK'S REAL LIFE FUNNIES: THE COLLECTED CONCEITS, DELUSIONS, AND HIJINKS OF NEW YORKERS FROM 1974—1995, published by Fantagraphics Underground (2024). 

Wanda Mann has been writing about wine and travel for over a decade and is a Certified Specialist of Wine. She’s visited vineyards and cellars around the world and interviewed renowned winemakers and moderated seminars at major wine festivals. Wanda’s articles have been published in Food & Wine, Decanter, Napa Magazine, The SOMM Journal, and other media outlets. Wanda is drawn to wine for its sensory pleasures and powerful ability to create bonds between people.

    Wanda’s first collection of essays will explore how wine goes beyond taste and terroir to connect us to universal themes and expressions of the human experience including resilience, faith, love, creativity and joy.

Author John A. Marley is an Irish television producer and writer with a proven track record in creating and producing distinctive, original entertainment and factual programming for both the UK and international audiences. 

       In his new thriller, London Interrupted, master thief Danny Felix finds himself propelled into the heist of the century, masterminded by a psychotic, crooked cop named James Harkness. In order to succeed he will not only have to outwit the ruthless Harkness; he will also have to bring the city of London to a halt. The first of three books in a Danny Felix series of crime thrillers, LONDON INTERRUPTED was published by SpellBound Books in 2023.

Daniel is a writer and Illustrator living in New England. A graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design, he has done everything from illustrating greeting cards for American Greetings to creating the giant signs in Times Square. He has illustrated books for Nickelodeon, Grosset & Dunlap, and Simon Spotlight, plus ran a successful design partnership for over a decade.           

     Recently, he started a small game company that creates video games for the Department of Defense, specializing in aural rehabilitation of veterans with hearing loss. Throughout his 30-year career, writing and illustration have been the backbone of his creative endeavors.

Demree McGhee is a writer currently attending an MFA program in San Diego.  Her poetry and prose have been published in literary journals such as Lunch Ticket, Palette Poetry, Free State Review, SORTES, and more.

      Her debut story collection, SYMPATHY FOR WILD GIRLS, will be published by Feminist Press in early 2025.  

Brooke is a picture book author who writes to uncover and discover. Much of her work is inspired by nature—and, at the moment, all of her stories are set outdoors! She loves to run, garden (plants and oysters), and do just about anything involving water. Her nonfiction picture book If You Went to the Bottom of the Ocean, illustrated by Gordy Wright, is forthcoming with Chronicle Books in 2026. 

     Brooke is the founder of Inked Voices, an online literary organization that helps writers find community via critique groups and highly-regarded workshops and classes. She believes writers can help one another bring out their best work and loves cheering writers on.

Merry Miller-Gass is a picture book author and illustrator whose whimsical illustrations have been featured in magazines such as Spider and Ladybug (Cricket Media). As a teaching artist, Merry brings to life her passion for nurturing creativity in artists of all ages through engaging workshops tailored for both children and adults.

     Merry’s forthcoming picture books, to be published by The Little Press in 2025 and 2026, include: 'DUCK DUCK GROOVE' (written by Jeanette Fazzari Jones), 'NO LOVE POTION' (written by Christina Shawn), and 'PIONEER TREE' (written by Robin Currie).

P Nhung is a Paris-based illustrator with a passion for children’s book art, creating vibrant, poetic illustrations. A 2022 graduate of École Jean Trubert, she uses gouache, watercolor, acrylic, and colored pencils to craft rich, textured images that capture the wonder of childhood.

     Her work Silence à Paris was shortlisted for the World Illustration Award and was a Finalist at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (2023). Where are People Going? was a finalist at the 2024 Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

For over two decades, Associate Professor Anne O’Dwyer has taught a range of psychology courses at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Her research looks at how the nature of self intersects with interpersonal conflicts and asks how these conflicts impact how we think and feel about ourselves. Anne has published in professional journals and presented at many conferences. She is a past-president of the New England Psychological Association. 

     Anne's current project, A DRIVING ANGER: THE PSYCHOLOGY AND ROOTS OF ROAD RAGE, will be published by Bloomsbury/ Rowman and Littlefield in Winter 2025.

Katie Palazzola is an author-illustrator from St. Louis, Missouri. She shares a little purple house with her husband, daughter, and dog, where she writes, draws, and daydreams about the multiverse. She loves to collect rocks, visit her garden, and chase her kid through muddy puddles. As humble curator of her toddler's library, Katie is dedicated to creating books that surprise and delight. Her stories are whimsical, magically strange, and brimming with quirky humor. 
    Katie's debut picture books, THE GREAT FROG and BEFORE AND AFTER, will be published by Neal Porter Books in 2026 and 2027, respectively. 

Young Trip Park finished college and went right to work using his imaginative talents as an Art Director for ad agencies including Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi. Clients included brands like McDonald’s, General Mills, and Drug-Free America. 

     Changing gears, Trip illustrated the 16-book chapter series ROTTEN SCHOOL (R.L. Stine, HarperCollins). The series was optioned twice for feature development and Trip went on to conceive character design for Blue Sky Studios. 

    Today, Trip lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with three dogs and his wife. Their children have flown the coop. Trip’s also represented by a number of fine art galleries.

After decades working as a meeting planner, a corporate video producer, a freelance script writer for local television commercials, and teaching high school English, Amy Parsons finally committed to her passion of writing. From the time she started reading and making up stories, she has felt called to tell tales. She and her husband live in a small town in Minnesota, where Amy teaches English to high schoolers and runs the school's yearbook class.

     Amy's debut novel is a YA story about a school shooting, a topic she wishes didn't exist in reality.

Kentee is the creative force of behind @dexterdogouray, the bipedal, tri-pawed wonder dog taking the world and the internet by storm. As Dexter’s puppy parent she is his social media manager, pet influencer, pooper scooper, video producer, and inspirational writer. Together, Kentee and Dexter have won awards, appeared on television, and travelled across the country in true 'pet celebrity' fashion. Since going viral on TikTok, she and Dexter have reached millions of people worldwide, uplifting spirits and encouraging folks to get through the pandemic, one Dexter-step at a time.

     DEXTER: THE STAND UP DOG will be published by Gnome Road in Fall 2025.

Julie Peppito has been telling stories with various media, including trash, for over 30 years. Her work has been the subject of eight solo exhibitions, and you can visit her installations at J.J. Byrne Playground, Underhill Playground, and Slope Park in Brooklyn, NY. Orginally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Julie is a Brooklyn-based artist, activist, author, illustrator, and art educator.

    She is currently working on her picture book debut, OTHER PEOPLE’S SHOES, a fanciful exploration of empathy told through richly layered mixed-media illustrations. off!"

UK-based Thalamus Plank was brought up in a creative household with a blend of English and Guyanese cultures and was encouraged to write and draw from an early age. Passionate about storytelling, Thalamus studied performing arts, and has written and directed pieces for performance in different media. Co-running a small animal rescue, Thalamus lives with one other human, a collection of huskies and a variety of mammals, avians, and reptiles—life is never dull, and inspiration, never far!

     The author/illustrator’s current work-in-progress is a picture book about a kiddo who believes his granny has a sneaky secret—one that could get her into more trouble than any child would encounter.

In 2015, artist and writer Pops Peterson debuted REINVENTING ROCKWELL, a series of artworks reimagining mid-century illustrations by Norman Rockwell in a manner reflective of today’s times. Celebrating America’s rich diversity and embracing Rockwell’s sense of humanity, Peterson has created images that envision social change and express his desire for a positive, inclusive, and just world. The collection was featured  at The Norman Rockwell Museum in what became the longest-running solo exhibition in the museum's history, fall 2020- summer 2021. 

     The Boston Globe wrote of his work: "Peterson picks up where Rockwell left off!"

Rebecca Pitts writes for and makes things with young people. She is a freelance writer (published in the New York Times for Kids, Teen Vogue, Highlights Magazine, and elsewhere) and author of the YA book JANE JACOBS: CHAMPION OF CITIES, CHAMPION OF PEOPLE (Seven Stories Press, 2023.) She runs workshops in the Lower Hudson Valley Rivertowns for young writers and artists, guiding children in visual storytelling in comics, zines, and newspaper-making.

     A former archivist, Rebecca’s happy place is in the stacks, poring over records and correspondence. She believes that all children deserve access to true, full accounts of history. She is currently working on a picture book about a pioneer of journalism who set ground-breaking standards for ethics in reporting. 

Frank Riccardi is a cybersecurity and privacy expert passionate about empowering people and companies with the cyber-savvy needed to repel cyberattacks. With 25 years of experience in healthcare compliance and privacy, he has led the response to high-profile data breaches and cybersecurity investigations and developed robust compliance and privacy programs for large healthcare systems. Frank is the author of Mobilizing the C-suite: Waging War Against Cyberattacks (Business Expert Press), a call to arms for business leaders to take action against cyberattacks.
    He is currently working on a pop tech book meant for general audiences that covers the scams and technologies that cybercriminals employ to steal your data and ruin your life, and how to defend yourself from it.

Anna Rickards is a Scotland-based author of literary and upmarket fiction with a particular penchant for writing deeply emotional, heart-rending stories about love and loss. She is also an illustrator, with a background in 2D Animation, and employs a bright and colouful palette for children's picture books. Anna has had a varied creative career, working as a freelance designer for card companies, as a live scribe illustrating business events and as an editorial illustrator, but has always dreamed of being a novelist. 

     Her current manuscript, INKED, is an upmarket novel exploring the complex, enduring relationship between two tattoo artists in gritty early-noughties Camden, as they build a tattoo parlor business together.

Martin P. Robinson has been part of the Jim Henson Company for more than three decades, performing Sesame Street roles including Mr. Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster, and Slimey. He is Sesame’s International Senior Muppet Coordinator and Teacher, winning the Peacebuilder Award for his work training performers in more than 15 countries. If you have seen Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway (designer/performer), or films like Elmo in Grouchland and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you have seen his work.

     Marty’s current project is a series of picture books about Rooba and Cobalt, featuring a precocious kid who invites the reader to participate in joyous escapades.

Benjamin Roesch is an award-winning young adult and middle grade author of stories for young readers and the young at heart. His debut novel, Blowin’ My Mind Like a Summer Breeze, won the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Award. He is also author of The Rest of Your Life Soundtrack and the middle grade novel Felix & Squeak. He has an MFA from Lesley University and is a writer, teacher, podcaster, music obsessive, and proud dad of two living in Vermont.  

     His current project is an upper middle grade novel called Soup about an ambitious teen chef who runs away to the Big Apple to track down his celebrity chef idol. It’s a wild culinary caper full of bold flavors, unexpected friendships, and finding where you truly belong.   

Enid Baxter Ryce comes to writing from her career as a filmmaker and artist. After writing and editing a documentary that screened at Sundance, Enid has gone on to exhibit her films and paintings internationally at venues recently including the National Gallery of Art and Library of Congress, and has been written about in The New York Times, Artforum, Artreviews, the Los Angeles Times, and many others.

       Enid is the author and co-illustrator (with Luis Cámara) of THE BORDERLANDS TAROT/EL TAROT DE TIERRAS FRONTERIZAS guidebook and deck, being published by Running Press in 2024. Her second book with Running Press, PLANT MAGIC AT HOME, will be published in 2025. 

Lauren Seal is a writer, librarian, and the third Poet Laureate of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. Her work has appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies, and she's performed at numerous festivals and events. She mentors the teen and young adult poets of SWYC—the Spoken Word Youth Choir—and performs in the adult incarnation of the group. In her free time, Lauren can be found reading, writing, and composing poems in her head on long walks.
    Lauren's debut novel, a YA novel-in-verse titled LIGHT ENOUGH TO FLOAT, will be published by Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Teen in Fall 2024.

Christina Shawn is a reading specialist, literacy coach, and author who writes about magical moments in our everyday lives. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and three kiddos, who provide a constant supply of support, humor, and inspiration. Her writing focuses on early literacy foundations while helping children feel seen, heard, and understood.

      Christina has two picture books being published in 2025:  AND THEN CAME YOU: WHEN FAMILIES GROW, LOVE GROWS TOO, illustrated by Shahrzad Maydani, about a reluctant child in a growing family (Chronicle Books); and NO-LOVE POTION (The Little Press), in which a young witch’s “No-Love” potion is spoiled when Ingredient Number 9 unexpectedly hops into her heart.

Charlotte Sheer is the creator of the nationally acknowledged Holocaust Stamps Project, a unique visual learning initiative that motivates students to practice tolerance and value diversity based on insights into the history of loss caused by discrimination and hate. Her debut historical middle grade manuscript TAGGED FOR DELIVERY, won the 2023 SCBWI Novel-in-Verse Award and the 2022 New England SCBWI Windows and Mirrors Award. The story invites readers on the emotional kindertransport journey-to-safety of three Czechoslovak Jewish sisters.  Her poetry for children is published in four anthologies by Writers’ Loft Press and will appear in BLESS THE EARTH (Penguin Random House, 2024). 

    A former educator, Charlotte’s first experience as a published author was at age eleven when the local newspaper printed her poem. Today she writes from America’s hometown of Plymouth, Massachusetts.  

Dana Sherwood is an American artist/writer/illustrator. Her distinct style uses dreamlike magical realism to explore the interconnectedness between humans and the natural world and humans and non-human animals, including our companion species and those who live on frontiers of human civilization: raccoons, possums, foxes, and others. Like Alice’s mad tea party, food plays an important role in the mise en scene. The result is both enchanted and down-to-earth; her diverse work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide.

    Sherwood’s debut, THE NIGHT FEAST is about a child’s attempts to make friends with forest creatures. 

Seymour Simon, whom the New York Times called. “the dean of the [children’s science] field,” is the author of over 300 highly acclaimed science books, more than seventy-five of which have been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

     His latest book, CLIMATE ACTION: WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT WE CAN DO was published by HarperCollins in 2022.

Crystal Simone Smith is the author of Down to Earth (Longleaf Press, 2021), Running Music (Longleaf Press, 2014), and Routes Home (Finishing Line Press, 2013). In 2020, she received a Duke University fellowship to research and compose African American haiku. She is the Founder and Managing Editor of Backbone Press Inc., which publishes emerging & established poets of color.

      DARK TESTAMENT, a book of blackout poetry, was published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers in 2023. Her forthcoming book, RUNAGATE: SONGS OF FREEDOM BOUND, a collection of Japanese forms of poetry written in response to slave artifacts including ads for runaway slaves, will be published by Duke University Press in Spring 2025.

Author/Illustrator Rebecca Solow creates imaginative worlds from her home studio in Maryland. She's illustrated projects for Penguin Random House, Highlights Magazine, Spider Magazine and others and focuses on children's books, ranging from picture books through YA. She's drawn to animal stories, updated folk and fairy tales, middle-grade fantasy, and stories with humor and heart. Rebecca has a particular interest in narratives that feature strong girls who solve their own problems.

       Though Rebecca has numerous books in the works; her latest work focuses on the lively and (literally) ‘explosive' true story of a young woman of particular courage and stamina. 

Emily “E.L.” Starling is a YA speculative fiction writer from the center of California, midway between all the cities anyone has ever heard of. Now living in Portland, Oregon, she spends her time papercutting, hiking, befriending neighborhood cats, running a small business with her husband/high school sweetheart, and weaving stories full of longing and twisty secrets.
    Emily’s current manuscript BOUND BY STARS, a YA grounded sci-fi romance, will be published by Entangled Teen in Summer 2025.

Renowned percussionist and storyteller Carol Steele has a resumé that reads like a who’s who of popular music. She has performed or recorded with Peter Gabriel, Steve Winwood, Joan Baez, Tears for Fears, Diana Ross, Mongo Santamaria, and many other well-known artists. Carol realized her life-long dream of going to Cuba in 1987, where she was the first woman to play with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, one of Cuba’s iconic folklore groups. Carol calls Cuba her spiritual home, and now spends most of her time there.

       She brings the depth all of these experiences to her solo performing and writing, hoping to honor her 30-year career in the telling of her stories. Currently, Carol is working on her memoir, tentatively titled A DIFFERENT DRUMMER.   

Mel Stephenson is a painter, illustrator, and writer. Her illustrations explore spiritual and heart-minded concepts, bringing them to life through images and picture books for children (and adult children!) A former arts psychotherapist, her work blends the seen and imagined, capturing the essence of magic rooted in the real.  

     Inspired by her exploration of how things work through the lenses of quantum science, spirituality and psychology, her wish is to touch people’s hearts, inspire wonder, and awaken the spark within.

Gabriella Svenningsen is a Swedish author and illustrator living in New Haven, Connecticut. She’s captivated by how words and images play off one another. She began her career as a playwright in London, UK. Over the last 15 years her primary focus has been to write and illustrate picture books for children and adults. 

     While her next story takes root in her head, you can find several projects on Gabriella’s drawing desk. Her focus at the moment is on the youngest readers, epitomized by her story, EVERYTHING BUT THE MOON.

Amanda Lee Summers is an illustrator, animator, and author based in New Jersey. She's created digital storybooks for several major children's television shows including Nick Jr.’s Blue's Clues & You! She’s also worked as an artist and animator on the original Blue's Clues, Little Einsteins, Team Umizoomi, and Blaze and the Monster Machines.  A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she comes from a small dynasty of kidlit artists. Her mom is celebrated author/illustrator Diane deGroat and Amanda s proud to carry on the family tradition.

     Amanda is thrilled to collaborate with her childhood best friend, Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh and her mother, Diane deGroat, on their current project, CANDY KITTY LAND, an early chapter book series for ages 6-9.

Transformed by the study of yoga and the journey into conscious compassionate heart-centered living, Jamie is constantly encouraging seekers to look within and awaken their inner vibrancy and guidance.

     Her current manuscript, a collaboration with Shelley Rotner, is called LIVING YOGA IN THE PRESENT MOMENT. 

Leigh Therriault is a Canadian writer and poet, born and raised in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario. She graduated from the Creative Writing Program at the University of Toronto and earned a Master of Science in Communication, Behaviour and Credibility Analysis from the Manchester Metropolitan University. A former dispatcher and creature of the night, she is now up with the sun and works as an analyst.

     Leigh is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Canadian Authors Association, where she volunteers as the social media coordinator for the National Capital Region. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in children’s magazines, literary journals, and anthologies.

Avery Timmons is an Illinois-based writer holding a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago. An avid reader and writer since childhood, she has had numerous speculative fiction short stories published in literary magazines and anthologies. Her young adult fantasy novels Thicker Than Water (2025) and Maimed (2026) are to be published with Wild Ink Publishing.

     Avery's current project is a YA contemporary romance novel about rival high school trumpet players who work together to sabotage a new student.

Erica Simone Turnipseed is a writer who has published two adult novels, and a wife, a mom, and a teacher, not necessarily in that order. She’s also a student of popular culture and an everywoman philanthropist who founded the Five Years for the House Initiative, a fund-raising drive for the Afro American Cultural Center at Yale.

       Her debut picture book, BIGGER THAN ME, was published by Caitlyn Dlouhy Books / Atheneum in 2023. Her latest adult novel, AMERICAN SIBYL, weaves themes of memory, identity, and historical legacy of one Black family's present, past, and future into a poignant exploration of memory, identity, and the enduring impact of history on the present.

Steven Varni's latest PB, ARGH! OR THE FLOWERING WEED is a story about a troublesome weed that transforms the life of the main character, has been acquired by Marble Press. Steven’s first PB, Ciao, Sandro! (Abrams), was inspired by a real-life dog who used water buses to travel independently around Venice. 

     His first book of fiction for adults, The Inland Sea (Morrow), was called "a really impressive book" by Joan Didion, while Arthur Miller praised its "fine ear for the language and the mood of that American underlife it describes." His current adult work, TILT-A-WORLD, a cross-country road trip novel challenging notions of family, materialism, and the American way, is set in 2004 but in uncanny ways predicts our current cultural landscape.

 Kim Watson is an innovative filmmaker and director of over 40 music videos, garnering “Best Music Video” nominations from both MTV and the Soul Train Awards, and NAACP recognition for his presentation of positive images of African Americans. Watson went on to write for Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers Films, MTV Films, movies of the week, and the Universal Pictures hit HONEY, starring Jessica Alba, before directing and conducting the interviews for A&E Biography’s groundbreaking documentary on LL Cool J.
      Kim's new book TRESPASS (Broadleaf Books 2024) spotlights Los Angeles' homeless and highlights his skills as both a writer and photographer—a passionate, multi-dimensional artist who stirs people’s deepest emotions and promotes social change through his creativity.  

Ash Wilda is a 2019 graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults. Wilda coaches competitive rock climbing and describes themself as a “maker, musician, and artist of many mediums.” 

        Ash's debut YA novel, THE NIGHT FOX (Rocky Pond Books 2023) is a contemporary work of magical realism, with the past told in poetry and the present told in prose.  Kirkus Reviews described their writing as “An evocative, imaginative story about our emotional landscapes and the quest for mental health and independence.” Their second YA novel, CLEAVE, will be published by Rocky Pond in 2025.

Amy Day Wilkinson is a writer and professor based, with her family, in Brooklyn, New York. Amy’s essays and short stories have appeared in literary journals such as New Letters, The Missouri Review, The Minnesota Review, Jabberwock Review, Elm Leaves Journal, and others. Several pieces have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. Amy teaches Writing as part of NYU’s Liberal Studies program. 

     Amy’s debut novel, UNLIMITED RIDE, spans NYC and Brooklyn and is a journey of self-discovery and self-expression As its protagonist, Jenny M., approaches her fortieth birthday, she reflects on choices she’s made and wonders how to continue to shape her life. It’s been acquired by Regal House for publication in Spring, 2027.

Jessica Wolf is a writer and editor of (mostly) creative non-fiction. She is co-author of Deep Listening: Healing Practices to Calm Your Body, Clear Your Mind, and Open Your Heart/Rodale Press. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Huffington Post, AARP’s The Girlfriend, Istanbul Literary Review, and Wilderness House Literary Review, among others.

      Her latest work, BURNT TOAST (AND OTHER CALAMITOUS EVENTS), is a memoir-in-essays delving into big and small moments in a way that appears, on the surface, to be slice-of-life storytelling. But in truth, these 25 pieces are more like tiny forensic investigations, rooting out those tender spaces where humor and heartache intersect.