Crystal Allen is the author of How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy, which received a Florida Sunshine State Award Master List nomination and was a Junior Library Guild selection. She is also the author of the acclaimed middle grade novels The Laura Line, The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown, and The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: The Wall of Fame Game. She currently lives in Sugar Land, Texas, with her husband, Reggie, and two sons, Phillip and Joshua. You can visit her website at www.crystalallenbooks.com.
Erzsi Deak is an author, editor, and founder of Hen&ink Literary Studio. Her picture book, Pumpkin Time! (illustrated by Doug Cushman; Sourcebooks/Scholastic Clubs), celebrates mindfulness, a gardening year – and pumpkin pie. Period Pieces: Stories for Girls (anthology co-edited Kristin Embry; HarperCollins) was a Bank Street pick. At Hen&ink she is an editorial agent, pushing her authors and illustrators to go the extra kilometer to achieve sometimes surprising insights and results. Submissions are currently limited to referrals, conference attendees where she is a speaker, or Open Coop First Fridays (see www.henandink.com for submission details and Open Coop dates).
Regina Brooks is the founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC in New York, New York. Her agency is the largest African American owned agency in the country and has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Her authors have appeared in USA TODAY, NY TIMES, and the Washington Post, as well as on Oprah, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSBNC, TV ONE, BET, and a host of others. Writer’s Digest magazine named Serendipity Literary Agency as one of the top 25 literary agencies. She is the author of Essence Magazine’s quick pick children’s book, NEVER FINISHED NEVER DONE (Scholastic), WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS 2e (Sourcebooks), and YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK: HOW TO WRITE, SELL AND MARKET YOUR MEMOIR (St. Martin’s Press), and a well received blogger for the Huffington Post. Brooks is also on the faculty of the Harvard University publishing program the Whidbey Island Writers MFA, Western Connecticut MFA low residency programs, Writer’s Digest University and teaches annually at more than twenty worldwide conferences.
Kait Feldmann is Senior Editor at HarperCollins, specializing in picture books and graphic novels. She was previously an editor at Scholastic, and claims to have been a bookseller at Vroman’s Bookstore (but technically was employed to sell pens).
She is also the Director of Special Projects for People of Color in Publishing and the founder of the Scholastic Diversity Committee. In 2020 she received the CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award for her work. Kait resides in a hoarder’s paradise in Los Angeles, surrounded by books.
Sydnee Monday was born on a Monday in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is Associate Editor at Kokila. She’s a Howard University alumnus and has acquired books by disability rights advocate Keah Brown, graphic artist Rinny Perkins, food writer Kiera Wright-Ruiz, and more. She mentors high school students in NYC with the Governor’s Committee for Scholastic Achievement. Follow her on Twitter @SydneeMonday.
Frances Gilbert is a children’s book editor and the author of the picture books Go, Girls, Go!, Too Much Slime!, and I Will Always Be Your Bunny; the Step Into Reading leveled readers I Love Pink!, I Love My Tutu!, I Love My Grandma!, I Love Cake! and I Love My Teacher!; and an abridgement of The Secret Garden for Little Golden Books. Follow her on Twitter at @GoGirlsGoBooks.
Tammi Sauer, a former teacher and library media specialist, is a full-time children’s book author who presents at schools and conferences across the country. She loves to write funny, heartfelt picture books. One example is No Bunnies Here!(Doubleday Books for Young Readers, January 2022) which, contrary to the title, happens to be a bookfilledwith bunnies. Another is The Underpants (Scholastic Press, 2022), and, well, “underpants” is just about the best word ever–just ask any first grader.
Tammi has over 30 picture books with more on the way. In addition to winning awards and earning starred reviews, many of Tammi’s books have gone on to be published in various languages including Chinese, Dutch, Hebrew, French, Italian, Korean, and Spanish which makes her feel extra fancy. Find out more about Tammi at tammisauer.com and follow her on Twitter at @SauerTammi.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is the author of many children’s books, including Chicks Rule!, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks!, and Quackenstein Hatches a Family. She lives in New Jersey with her family.
Using her science background as a springboard, Sudipta began writing nonfiction for children, including Championship Science Fair Projects, Last Minute Science Fair Projects, AIDS, and Autism. She branched out into other nonfiction, including biographies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Jane Goodall, and altogether, Sudipta has written 18 nonfiction books for kids.
Her first love, however, was always picture books, so using a facility with word play and a love for animals (especially pigs), Sudipta worked on a number of manuscripts. Most of them were rejected (she freely admits, when she started writing picture books, they really stank!).Sudipta visits schools to share her stories and experience, and teaches writing to children and adults. She lives in New Jersey with her family and an imaginary pony named Penny.
Cate Berry has authored the picture books; Penguin and Tiny Shrimp Don’t Do Bedtime!illustrated by Charles Santoso (Balzer & Bray/Harper Collins), Chicken Break! A Counting Bookillustrated by Charlotte Adler (Feiwel & Friends/MacMillan), and Thank You, Teacher!illustrated by Sara Varon (Harper Collins/Balzer+Bray) coming March, 2023. Recently, she co-authored with Ashley Wian, Chef Kobe Cooks All by Himself! illustrated by Joy Ang (pub date forthcoming). Cate holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has been a featured author at the Texas Book Festival, West Texas Book Fest, Austin SCBWI Conference (faculty). She writes the monthly humor column for Austin Family Magazineand teaches privately and at conferences. Visit her at www.cateberry.com to learn more.
Betsy Bird is the Collection Development Manager of Evanston Public Library and the former Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She writes for the School Library Journal blog A Fuse #8 Production and reviews for Kirkus. She is the host of the Story Seeds podcast as well as the co-host of the Fuse 8 n’ Kate podcast that she creates with her sister. Betsy is the author of nonfiction, picture books, anthologies, and the new historical middle grade novel LONG ROAD TO THE CIRCUS, illustrated by David Small and out this October. You can follow Betsy at @FuseEight on Twitter or at betsybirdbooks.com.
Donna Gephart’s middle grade novels include: Abby, Tried and True, The Paris Project, In Your Shoes, Lily and Dunkin, Death by Toilet Paper and others. Her first book, As If Being 12-3/4 Isn’t Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President!, won the prestigious Sid Fleischman Humor Award.
She’s presented at the Erma Bombeck Humor Writing Workshop and other national workshops and conferences. Her first picture book, Go Be Wonderful, came out recently from Holiday House. Donna lives in the Philadelphia area with her family and her canine office assistant, Benji, a sweet retriever mix. Visit her online at www.donnagephart.com.
Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning novels and picture books, including Midsummer’s Mayhem(2019), Seven Golden Rings(2020),Red, White, and Whole(2021),Bracelets for Bina’s Brothers(2021), Much Ado About Baseball(2021), Where Three Oceans Meet (2021), The Secret Code Inside You (2021), and more. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picture books, prose and poetry. She finds inspiration in her family, her childhood, the natural world, math, science, and just about everywhere she looks. To connect with Rajani and learn more about her and her books visit her at www.RajaniLaRocca.comand on Twitter and Instagram @rajanilarocca.
Dawn Quigley, Ph.D. and citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, ND, is an assistant professor at a Midwest university Education Department. She taught English and reading for 18+ years in the K-12 schools along with being an Indian Education program co-director. In addition to her debut coming-of-age Young Adult novel, Apple in the Middle (NDSU Press), “Joey Reads the Sky” in Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, the chapter book series Jo Jo Makoons: The Used to Be Best Friend (book #1), and Native American Heroes (Scholastic Books). Dawn has over 30 published articles, essays and poems. She lives in Minnesota with her family.
Adrianna Cuevas is the author of the Pure Belpre Honor book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez and Cuba in My Pocket. She is a first-generation Cuban-American oringinally from Miami, Florida.
A former Spanish and Esol teacher, Adrianna currently resides in Austin, Texas with her husband and son. She is represented by Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel of Full Circle Literary.
Jessica Kim writes about Asian American girls finding their way in the world. Before she was an author, Jessica studied education at UC Berkeley and spent ten years teaching third, fourth, and fifth grades in public schools.
Like Yumi, Jessica lives with her family in Southern California and can’t get enough Hot Cheetos, stand-up comedy, and Korean barbecue.
Marcie Colleen is the author of numerous books for kids, including: PENGUINAUT!, THE BEAR’S GARDEN, SURVIVOR TREE, and the Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series. She is also a Senior Writer/Editor at Epic! where she has been creating comics and other stories to make kids laugh out loud.
She enjoys reading, running, watching baseball, and eating ice cream—although not all at the same time! Marcie lives in San Diego with her husband and a beloved herd of stuffed animals. Visit her at www.thisismarciecolleen.com.
DEV PETTY is the author of I Don’t Want to Be a Frog, I Don’t Want to Be Big, There’s Nothing to Do!, and I Don’t Want to Go to Sleep. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Dev previously worked as a visual-effects artist in film, contributing to such movies as the Matrix Trilogy. Dev was born and raised in Berkeley, California, and now lives right next door in Albany with her husband, two daughters, some dogs, and other critters. Visit her online at devpetty.com and on Twitter at @devpetty.
Jessixa Bagley is the author and illustrator of many acclaimed books for children, including Boats for Papa, which received a Golden Kite Award, and Laundry Day, which received an Ezra Jack Keats Award Honor. She lives with her family in Seattle, Washington.
Julie Hedlund is an award-winning children’s book author, founder of the 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge, co-founder of Picture Book Summit, co-creator with Emma Walton Hamilton of the Complete Picture Book Submissions System, and a frequent speaker at industry events such as SCBWI conferences.
Cynthia Leitich Smith is the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate and a New York Times bestselling author of books for young readers, including HEARTS UNBROKEN, which won the American Indian Library Association’s Youth Literature Award. Her 2021 releases are the middle grade anthology ANCESTOR APPROVED: INTERTRIBAL STORIES FOR KIDS and novel SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA.
She is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and serves as the Katherine Paterson Inaugural Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and lives in Austin, Texas.
Kathi Appelt is the New York Times best-selling author of more than forty books for children and young adults. Her first novel, THE UNDERNEATH, was named a National Book Award Finalist, a Newbery Honor Book, and the PEN USA Literature for Children Award. That was followed by KEEPER, which was named an NCTE Notable Children’s Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Her memoir, MY FATHER’S SUMMERS, won the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Poetry. Ms. Appelt was presented with the A.C. Greene Award by the Friends of Abilene Public Library, which named her a “Texas Distinguished Author.” Her novel, THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP, was named a National Book Award Finalist and won the Green Earth Award, the Texas Institute of Letters Award, and the Judy Lopez Memorial Award. Her picture book, MISS LADY BIRD’S WILDFLOWERS, illustrated by Joy Fisher Hein, won the “Growing Green Kids” award from the Junior Master Gardeners.
Her picture book, COUNTING CROWS (illustrated by Rob Dunlavey), was a finalist for the Writers League of Texas Award. Her novel, MAYBE A FOX (co-written with Alison McGhee) won the Jean Flynn Award given by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was also named to the Texas Bluebonnet Master List. ANGEL THIEVES, her first young adult novel, was a finalist for the Willa Award, granted by Women Writing the West. Her newest novel, ONCE UPON A CAMEL, is illustrated by Caldecott winning artist, Eric Rohmann.
She and her husband Ken live in College Station, TX with five adorable cats, Django, Peach, Mingus, Chica and Jazz. For more information, check her website www.kathiappelt.com.