graham akhurst, AUTHOR OF borderland

Graham Akhurst is an Aboriginal writer hailing from the Kokomini of Northern Queensland. He has been published widely in Australia and America for poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction. His debut novel Borderland will be released in 2021 with Hachette Australia. Graham is the recipient of the W.G. Walker Fulbright Scholar to complete an MFA in fiction at Hunter College, CUNY. He has an Honours degree in creative writing and an Mphil in creative writing from the University of Queensland where he was also an Associate Lecturer in Indigenous Studies. He currently lives and studies in New York.

jennifer baker, Senior Editor, amistad books, An imprint of Harpercollins & author of forgive me not

Jennifer Baker is a publishing professional, creator/host of the Minorities in Publishing podcast, and contributing editor to Electric Literature. In 2017, she received a NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship and a Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant for Nonfiction Literature. Her essay "What We Aren't (or the Ongoing Divide)" was listed as a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2018. In 2019, she was named Publishers Weekly Superstar for her contributions to inclusion and representation in publishing. Jennifer is the editor of the all PoC-short story anthology EVERYDAY PEOPLE: THE COLOR OF LIFE (Atria Books, 2018) and author of the upcoming YA novel FORGIVE ME NOT (Putnam BFYR, 2022). She has volunteered with organizations such as We Need Diverse Books and I, Too Arts Collective.

jennifernbaker.com
@jbakernyc

DERRICK BARNES, author of i am every good thing

Derrick Barnes wrote the New York Times bestsellers The King of Kindergarten, and I Am Every Good Thing, as well as the critically acclaimed multi-award winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. He also wrote the bestselling chapter book series Ruby and the Booker Boys. Derrick is a graduate of Jackson State University (BA-Marketing ’99), and was the first African-American creative copywriter hired by greeting cards giant Hallmark Cards. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and their four sons.

http://www.derrickdbarnes.com Instagram: @authorderrickdbarnes

Carole boston weatherford, author of Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre & dreams for a daughter

Carole Boston Weatherford, author of Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, has 60 books, including three Caldecott Honor winners: Freedom in Congo Square, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Recent titles include BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, By and By: Charles A. Tindley, The Father of Gospel Music, R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul, and The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip Hop. Her latest release is Dreams for a Daughter. A two-time NAACP Image Award winner, she teaches at Fayetteville State University.

http://cbweatherford.com
Facebook: carole.weatherford
Twitter: poetweatherford
IG: @caroleweatherford

ANGELINE BOULLEY, AUTHOR OF FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER

Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Angeline gained attention through the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) Mentorship Program. FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER, her debut novel, was acquired by Tiffany Liao at Henry Holt / Macmillan for publication in March 2021. She is represented by Faye Bender at The Book Group. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island.

www.angelineboulley.com
Twitter: @FineAngeline Instagram: @angelineboulley

Pre-orders of Firekeeper’s Daughter available HERE.

DAVID BOWLES, AUTHOR OF THE WITCH OWL PARLIAMENT & MY TWO BORDER TOWNS

David Bowles is a Mexican American author and translator from south Texas. Among his award-winning titles are The Smoking Mirror and the critically hailed They Call Me Güero. David's work has also been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as The New York Times, School Library Journal, Strange Horizons, English Journal, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children's Literature. In 2017, David was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. In 2020, he co-founded #DignidadLiteraria, a social justice movement advocating for greater Latinx representation in publishing.

www.davidbowles.us
Instagram: @DavidOBowles

Pre-orders of Bowles’ forthcoming picture book, My Two Border Towns, available HERE

rosemary brosnan, Vice President, editorial director at harpercollins children’s books

Rosemary Brosnan is Vice President, Editorial Director at HarperCollins Children’s Books. In addition to running the Quill Tree Books imprint, Rosemary is a co-founder of the Heartdrum imprint, with author and teacher Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek), which publishes books by Native and First Nations authors. Authors and illustrators Rosemary has worked with include Elizabeth Acevedo, Ernesto Cisneros, Floyd Cooper, Pat Cummings, Christine Day, Lulu Delacre, Andrew Eliopulos, Saadia Faruqi, Neil Gaiman, Nadia Hashimi, Sheba Karim, Pat Mora, Walter Dean Myers, Patrick Ness, Dawn Quigley, Anica Rissi, Louis Sachar, Neal Shusterman, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Brian Young.

Twitter: @rosemaryhb

dr. Monica brown, author of Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julian and Joaquín Castro & Frida and her animalitos

Dr. Monica Brown is the award-winning author of many multicultural books for children, including, Sharuko: El Arqueólogo Peruano /Peruvian Archeologist Julio C. Tello, Frida and her Animalitos, Waiting for the Biblioburro/Esperando al Biblioburro, Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/no combina, and the Lola Levine chapter book series. Her books have garnered multiple starred reviews and awards, and her books have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR's All Things Considered. Her new picture book, Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julian and Joaquín Castro (Spanish and English editions) is forthcoming from HarperCollins/Quill tree this May 2021.

www.monicabrown.net Twitter & Instagram: @monicabrownbks Facebook: Monica Brown, Children's Author

Pre-orders of Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julian and Joaquín Castro available HERE

mahogany L. Browne, author of chlorine sky & black girl magic

Mahogany L. Browne is a writer, organizer & educator. Executive Director of Bowery Poetry Club & Artistic Director of Urban Word NYC & Poetry Coordinator at St. Francis College. Browne has received fellowships from Agnes Gund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby & Black Girl Magic (Macmillan), Kissing Caskets (Yes Yes Books) & Dear Twitter (Penmanship Books). She is also the founder of the Woke Baby Book Fair (a nationwide diversity literature campaign) & as an Arts for Justice grantee, is excited to release her first YA Novel Chlorine Sky in January 2021. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

www.mahoganylbrowne.com All social media: @mobrowne

Pre-orders for Chlorine Sky available HERE

COZBI a. CABRERA, Author / illustrator of ME AND MAMA & MY HAIR IS A GARDEN

Cozbi A. Cabrera paints, illustrates children’s books, quilts, and designs clothing.

Her illustrated titles include: Beauty Her Basket/Sandra Belton, Greenwillow Books; Thanks A Million/Nikki Grimes, Greenwillow Books; Stitchin’ and Pullin’ A Gees Bend Quilt/Patricia McKissack, Random House; Most Loved in All the World/Tonya Cherie Hegamin, Houghton Mifflin (which won the Christopher Award, given to outstanding works that represent the best of the human spirit) and Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks/Suzanne Slade, Abrams Books. She authored and illustrated My Hair Is A Garden/Albert Whitman and Me and Mama/Simon & Schuster.

Cozbi lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband and daughter.

www.cozbi.com
Instagram: @cozbi
Twitter: @cozbihandmade
Facebook: CozbiBooks

Edi Campbell, associate education librarian, cunningham memorial library, indiana state university

Edith Campbell is an Associate Education Librarian in the Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University. Edith is a founding member of the We Are Kidlit Collective and of See What We See. She currently serves on the Advisory Board for Booklist and for the Research on Diversity in Youth Literature journal. She's on the Executive Board of the Indiana State Literacy Association. In 2016, she served as a Faculty Fellow to the ISU Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence’s Multicultural Curriculum Learning Community. Edith blogs to promote literacy and social justice in young adult literature at CrazyQuiltsEdi.

https://crazyquiltedi.blog All social media: @CrazyQuilts

JOANNA CÁRDENAS, SENIOR EDITOR, KOKILA/ PENGUIN YOUNG READERS

Senior Editor Joanna Cárdenas has worked on such critically-acclaimed and award-winning books as The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez and Stand Up Yumi Chung by Jessica Kim. Joanna is also co-founder of the Representation Matters Mentor Program for aspiring editors of color. In 2015, she was an honoree of Publishers Weekly’s Star Watch, which identifies book publishing talent making waves in the industry. She is looking for books across age categories, genres, and formats that center joy, creativity, and imagination; explore our roles as global citizens; use comedy to deconstruct big life questions and events; and celebrate romantic and platonic love.

https://www.penguin.com/publishers/kokila/
@joannananamc (Twitter only)

sarah choi, marketing & communications consultant

Born and raised in Texas by first-generation Korean immigrants, Sarah has lived and worked all over the U.S as a cause marketing and communications consultant and freelance writer for Red Tricycle and The Food Network Magazine. Sarah is an active volunteer for Kweli and an advisory board member of Inprint Houston, a premier nonprofit supporting the excellence and diversity of literary arts in the U.S. Sarah hopes her picture books and middle grade works will shine a joyful light on the humanity and innate worthiness of every child. She lives with her family in Atlanta.

sarahkchoi.com

Floyd cooper, ILLUSTRATOR OF SPROUTING WINGS AND UNSPEAKABLE

Tulsa native Floyd Cooper began drawing at age three and has never stopped. He studied fine art at the University of Oklahoma, where he began his career creating artwork for newspapers, advertising agencies, and an education company. Cooper has also had a prolific career in children's publishing, authoring more than 100 children's books and illustrating more than 2,000 book covers. He has received considerable recognition and praise for his work, including several NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work, Children's Nominations; the 2011 Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY) gold medal in children's picture books; the 2018 PHOENIX Award honor, 3 Coretta Scott King honors and multiple American Library Association Notable Children's Book awards. He was also the 2009 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Illustration winner. The KWANZAA Forever Stamp Design (2018) is his first project for the United States Postal Service. Cooper lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, with his wife, two sons, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.

floydcooper.com. Facebook: floyd.cooper.12 Instagram: @floyd.cooper.4 Twitter: @floydcooper4

Pre-orders for Sprouting Wings available HERE Pre-orders for Unspeakable available HERE

brandy colbert, author of The voting booth

Brandy Colbert is the award-winning author of several books for children and teens, including The Voting Booth, The Only Black Girls in Town, and Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion. She is co-writer of Misty Copeland's Life in Motion young readers edition, and her short fiction and essays have been published in a variety of critically acclaimed anthologies for young people. She is on faculty at Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children, and lives in Los Angeles.

brandycolbert.com All social media: @brandycolbert

RIO CORTEZ, AUTHOR OF THE ABCS OF BLACK HISTORY

Rio Cortez is the author of I Have Learned to Define a Field as a Space Between Mountains (Jai Alai Books, 2015) and The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020). Born and raised in Salt Lake City, she now lives, writes, and works in Harlem.

riocortez.com @ohreallyrio

Jerry craft, author of new kid & CLASS ACT

Jerry Craft is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the graphic novels New Kid and Class Act. New Kid is the winner of the 2020 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature. In addition, New Kid was awarded the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature. He is also the recipient of the Coretta Scott King Author Award for the most outstanding work by an African American writer. Jerry was born in Harlem, grew up in New York City and currently lives in Connecticut with his two sons and two beagles.

https://jerrycraft.com All social media: @jerrycraft

Christine day, AUTHOR OF The sea in winter & I CAN MAKE THIS PROMISE

Christine Day (Upper Skagit) grew up in Seattle, nestled between the sea, the mountains, and the pages of her favorite books. Her debut novel, I Can Make This Promise, was a best book of the year from Kirkus, School Library Journal, NPR, and the Chicago Public Library, as well as a Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book, and an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book. Her second novel, The Sea in Winter, is coming to shelves on January 5, 2021. She also wrote the forthcoming She Persisted: Maria Tallchief, an early reader biography in a new series inspired by Chelsea Clinton’s bestselling picture book. Christine lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.

https://www.bychristineday.com/

trisha De guzman, editor, farrar straus giroux

Trisha de Guzman is an Associate Editor at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan. Born in Manila, she has lived in New York City since she was seven years old. She is actively building her list of picture books, middle grade and young adult novels, and select nonfiction books and graphic novels, with a particular focus on uplifting BIPOC voices.

http://trishadeguzman.com Twitter & Instagram: trishadeg

jennifer de leon, author of don’t ask me where i’m from

Jennifer De Leon is the author of Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 2020) and the editor of Wise Latinas (University of Nebraska Press). An Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Framingham State University, and a faculty member in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program at Bay Path University, she has published prose in over a dozen literary journals and is a GrubStreet instructor and board member. Her essay collection, White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing, is the recipient of the Juniper Prize and will be published by UMass Press in Spring 2021.

www.jenniferdeleonauthor.com Instagram: @delejenn Twitter: @jdeleonwriter

J. Dillard, AUTHOR OF JD AND THE GREAT BARBER BATTLE

J. Dillard, (JD) is a master barber, a certified consultant, industry leader and ‘barberprenuer’. JD started cutting his own hair at the age of 10 and became a professional in 1999 and launched his own shop while attending college at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. As an industry visionary Dillard’s mission is to assist G.L.A.M. industry professionals with product development, branding, marketing, social media and business services. JD and the Great Barber Battle is his debut title in the FOLLOW YOUR CLIPPERS TALES series.

iamjdillard.com or serendipitylit.com
@jdthekidbarber @iamjdillard

safia elhilLo, author of home is not a country & girls that never die

Safia Elhillo is the author of the novel in verse Home Is Not a Country (Make Me A World/Random House). Her next collection of poems GIRLS THAT NEVER DIE is due out 2021 via One World Books an imprint of Penguin Random House. She is also the author of The January Children (University of Nebraska Press, 2017). Sudanese by way of Washington, DC, and a Cave Canem fellow, she holds an MFA from the New School.

beotis.com/safiaelhillo Instagram: @safiamafia Twitter: @mafiasafia

Pre-orders for Home is Not a Country available HERE

SAADIA FARUQI, AUTHOR OF YUSUF AZEEM IS NOT A HERO & YASMIN

Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist and interfaith activist. She writes the children’s early reader series “Yasmin” published by Capstone and other books for children, including middle grade novels “A Place At The Table” (HMH/Clarion 2020) co-written with Laura Shovan, and “A Thousand Questions” (Harper Collins 2020). She has also written “Brick Walls: Tales of Hope & Courage from Pakistan” a short story collection for adults and teens. Saadia is editor-in-chief of Blue Minaret, a magazine for Muslim art, poetry and prose, and was featured in Oprah Magazine in 2017 as a woman making a difference in her community. She resides in Houston, TX with her husband and children.

www.saadiafaruqi.com
Twitter and Instagram: @saadiafaruqi

LAMAR GILES, AUTHOR OF The Last Mirror on the Left

Lamar Giles writes for teens and adults across multiple genres, with work appearing on numerous Best Of lists each and every year. He is the author of the acclaimed novels Fake ID, Endangered, Overturned, Spin, The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, Not So Pure and Simple, and The Last Mirror on the Left as well as numerous pieces of short fiction. He is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books and resides in Virginia with his wife.

lamargiles.com Twitter: @LRGiles Instagram: lamargiles

Michaela Goade, illustrator of I sang you down from the stars & We Are Water Protectors

Michaela is an artist and picture book illustrator from Juneau, Alaska, traditional Lingít aaní (Tlingit land) and is enrolled with the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Recent picture books include Encounter (Little, Brown for Young Readers, October 2019), We Are Water Protectors (Roaring Brook Press, March 2020), and Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy (Sealaska Heritage Institute, 2018), winner of the 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Picture Book. Michaela lives in a cozy cabin by the sea, tucked away in the forest with a little studio down the trail, where she is working on her author-illustrator debut picture book.

michaelagoade.com
Instagram: @michaelagoade

Pre-orders for Goade’s forthcoming picture book, I Sang You Down From The Stars, available HERE

clelia gore, Vice President and literary manager, martin literary & media management

Clelia is Vice President at Martin Literary & Media Management and Literary Manager for award-winning, best-selling and critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books for children and teenagers. A New Jersey native, Seattle transplant, current expat in Singapore, daughter of immigrants, and dual-passport holder, Clelia is fascinated by stories that help young readers understand the intricacies of the world and broaden their perspectives. Her clients include Leah Henderson, author of THE MAGIC IN CHANGING YOUR STARS, Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes’ bestselling and award-winning RESCUE & JESSICA: A LIFE-CHANGING FRIENDSHIP, and Latinx Pitch co-founder and author Mariana Llanos.

www.martinlit.com Twitter: @MadmoiselleClel

wendi gu, literary agent, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates

Wendi Gu is a literary agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. She represents voice-driven stories for all ages that uphold and explore themes of inclusivity and intersectionality. She is looking for layered, surprising stories that combat power structures here and around the world. She grew up in the Midwest and currently lives in Brooklyn with her spouse and a dog named Beanie.

www.greenburger.com
Twitter: @wendilulugu

Arely Guzmán, Editorial Assistant, Knopf Books for Young Readers and Make me a world

Arely Guzmán is an editorial assistant at Knopf Books for Young Readers and Make Me a World. She earned her MFA in creative writing with a focus on nonfiction from Columbia University. Arely grew up in the Tijuana/ San Diego border, reading as many books–in English and Spanish alike–as she could get a hold on. She is particularly interested in books that explore navigating in-betweenness and intersectional identities.

Next book to look out for: A Court of Miracles by Kester 'Kit' Grant, a YA fantasy.

Serene hakim, agent at Ayesha Pande Literary

Serene Hakim is an agent at Ayesha Pande Literary. She represents authors in a variety of genres, from MG fantasy to adult literary fiction to contemporary YA. Serene is particularly interested in both YA and adult fiction that has international themes, highlights a variety of cultures and focuses on underrepresented and/or marginalized voices. Specifically, she's looking for writing that explores different meanings of identity, home, family and parenthood/motherhood. Her educational background is in French and Women's Studies and she holds an M.A. in French-English Translation from NYU.

pandeliterary.com
Twitter: @serenemaria

Leah henderson, Author of a day for rememberin’ & daddy speaks love

Leah Henderson is the author of the middle grade novels The Magic in Changing Your Stars and One Shadow on the Wall. Her picture books include Together We March, and the forthcoming A Day for Rememberin’, Daddy Speaks Love and Your Voice, Your Vote. Leah holds an MFA in Writing and is on faculty in Spalding University's School of Creative and Professional Writing.

www.leahhendersonbooks.com
Instagram: @Leahs_mark
Twitter: @leahsmark

Pre-orders for A Day for Rememberin’ available HERE

veera hiranandani, author of how to find what you’re not looking for & the night diary

Veera Hiranandani is the author of The Night Diary, which has received many awards including the 2019 Newbery Honor Award, the 2019 Walter Dean Myers Honor Award, and the 2018 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children's Literature. She is also the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl and the chapter book series, Phoebe G. Green. She earned her MFA at Sarah Lawrence College. A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches creative writing. Her next novel, How to Find What You're Not Looking For, releases this fall with Kokila Books.

www.veerahiranandani.com
Twitter @veerahira
Instagram: @veerawrites

joanna ho, author of eyes that kiss in the corners & Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma

Joanna Ho is the author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners (Jan 5, 2021), Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma (Fall 2021), The Silence that Binds Us (2022) and One Day (2023). She is a writer and educator with a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism and equity work. She is currently the vice principal of a high school in the Bay Area, where she survives on homemade chocolate chip cookies, outdoor adventures, and dance parties with her kids.

joannahowrites.com All social media: @joannahowrites

Pre-orders for Eyes That Kiss in the Corners available HERE

CONNIE HSU, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ROARING BROOK PRESS AT MACMILLAN

Connie Hsu is an executive editor at Roaring Brook Press at Macmillan Publishing, a founding member of the Children’s Book Council Diversity Committee, and a member of the Brooklyn Book Festival Children’s Planning Committee. Recent books include I Dream of Popo, Outside, Inside, Black Is a Rainbow Color, and Fry Bread. Her authors include Vera Brosgol, Angela Dominguez, Shannon Hale, Pat Zietlow Miller, Dan Santat, Steve Sheinkin, and Tillie Walden. She was born in Taiwan, raised in Alabama, and now lives in Brooklyn.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/123365003
@editorhsu (Twitter)

cheryl hudson, editorial director, just us books

CHERYL WILLIS HUDSON is an author, editor and cofounder of Just Us Books, Inc., an independent publishing company that focuses on Black interest books for young people. Cheryl has authored more than two dozen books for young children including Brave. Black. First. 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World; Bright Eyes, Brown Skin (with Bernette G. Ford); AFRO-BETS ABC Book; Hands Can and My Friend Maya Loves to Dance. She has also co-edited a number of titles including We Rise We Resist We Raise Our Voices and The Talk. Cheryl frequently speaks to writers, illustrators, editors, teachers and librarians about African American and multicultural publishing and is an active member of the Children's Committee of PEN America. Outside of her full-time immersion in children's books, Cheryl enjoys creating handmade story quilts.

Zareen jaffEry, EXECUTIVE EDITOR AT KOKILA, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

Executive Editor Zareen Jaffery joined Kokila in January 2020, and will continue to publish books across age groups. She has acquired and edited a number of New York Times bestselling, award-winning, and critically acclaimed books over the course of her publishing career, including books by Jenny Han, Lupita Nyong’o, Mary H.K. Choi, Siobhan Vivian, Hena Khan, Lilliam Rivera, Hanna Alkaf, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, and S.K. Ali. In 2016, she launched Salaam Reads, an imprint at Simon & Schuster that focuses on publishing books about Muslim children and families.

https://www.penguin.com/publishers/kokila/
https://twitter.com/ZareenJaffery

Mike Jung, AUTHOR OF THE BOYS IN THE BACK ROW

Mike Jung is the author of Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, Unidentified Suburban Object, and The Boys in the Back Row, and contributed to the anthologies (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, and The Hero Next Door. His books have been honored by the Bank Street College of Education, Children’s Book Council, Cooperative Children's Book Center, Georgia State Book Awards, Iowa Children's Choice Awards, Kansas State Reading Circle, National Parenting Publications Awards, Parents Choice Foundation, and Texas Bluebonnet Awards. Mike is a founding member of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks team, and lives in Oakland, California, with his family.

www.mikejung.com.
Twitter: @Mike_Jung
FB: @captainstupendous IG: @mikejungwroteabook

sheba karim, AUTHOR OF THE MARVELOUS MIRZA GIRLS

Sheba Karim is the author of the YA novels Skunk Girl, That Thing We Call a Heart, Mariam Sharma Hits the Road, and The Marvelous Mirza Girls (forthcoming May 2021). She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is a Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University.

shebakarim.com
Instagram: shebakarim Twitter: shebakarim

shing yin khor, author/illustrator of the LEGEND OF AUNTIE PO

Shing Yin Khor is a Malaysian-American Ignatz-winning cartoonist and immersive installation artist exploring personal narrative, new human rituals, and collaborative world building through graphic novels and large scale art structures. They create comics at the intersection of race, immigrant stories, queerness and reinterpreting Americana. They are the author of Route 66 road trip memoir The American Dream?, one of NPR's favorite books of 2019, and the historical fiction graphic novel, The Legend of Auntie Po with Kokila (June 2021) about a young Chinese-American logging camp cook in the Sierra Nevadas telling Paul Bunyan tales.

https://shingkhor.com/ Twitter: @sawdustbear

Pre-orders for The Legend of Auntie Po available HERE

cheryl klein, editorial director at Lee & low books

Cheryl Klein is the editorial director at Lee & Low Books. Some of the books she's edited include SEVEN GOLDEN RINGS by Rajani LaRocca, illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan; DREAM BUILDER by Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by Laura Freeman; WHEN AIDAN BECAME A BROTHER by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita, winner of the Stonewall Award; THE MAGNOLIA SWORD: A BALLAD OF MULAN by Sherry Thomas; and the forthcoming MIOSOTIS FLORES NEVER FORGETS by Hilda Eunice Burgos. Cheryl is also the author of THE MAGIC WORDS: WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS and four picture books.

leeandlow.com cherylklein.com

Twitter & Instagram: @chavelaque

Pre-orders of Kleins upcoming picture book, Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates, available HERE

rajani larocca, author of red, white and whole & seven golden rings

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes novels and picture books. Her middle grade debut, Midsummer’s Mayhem, was a Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 and a 2020 Massachusetts Book Award Honor title. Her debut picture book, Seven Golden Rings, features a math puzzle and an explanation of binary numbers, and received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Her middle grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole, involves heritage and fitting in, science and poetry, Hindu mythology and 80s pop music, holding on and letting go. She finds inspiration in her family, her childhood, the natural world, and just about everywhere she looks.

https://www.rajanilarocca.com/ Twitter & Instagram: @rajanilarocca

Pre-orders of Red, White and Whole available HERE

Minh Lê, author of LiFT & DRAWN TOGETHER

Minh Lê is the author of Lift (a Washington Post Best Book of the Year), Drawn Together (winner of the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature), Let Me Finish, and The Perfect Seat (all published by Little, Brown). He also wrote Green Lantern: Legacy, his debut MG graphic novel for DC Comics. In addition to books, he has written for a variety of national publications, including the New York Times, HuffPost, and NPR. Outside of spending time with his wonderful wife and children, his favorite place to be is in the middle of a good book.

minhlebooks.com
Twitter & Instagram: @bottomshelfbks

Cynthia Leitich Smith, author-curator, heartdrum, harpercollins

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.

www.cynthialeitichsmith.com
Twitter: @CynLeitichSmith
Instagram: @cynthialeitichsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cynthia-Leitich-Smith-47037004867/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CynthiaLeitichSmith

Pre-orders for Ancestor Approved available HERE

Whitney Leopard, Senior Editor, Random House Graphic

Whitney Leopard is the Senior Editor at Random House Graphic, where she acquires and edits graphic novels for kids and teens. She has worked on titles like Trung Le Nguyen's The Magic Fish, and Lucy Knisley's Stepping Stones. She is a frequent speaker at colleges and conventions across the US. Whitney was previously an Editor at BOOM! Studios, managing the KaBOOM! imprint. She is known for her work on original graphic novels like Bolivar (an NPR Best Book of 2018) and comics series like Lumberjanes (a New York Times bestseller and Eisner Award-winner), and licensed comics like Adventure Time and Steven Universe.

whitneyleopard.com
Twitter: @WhitLeopard

Arthur a. levine, President and Editor-in-Chief of Levine Querido

Arthur A. Levine is the President and Editor-in-Chief of Levine Querido, a new independent publisher dedicated to finding and publishing brilliantly illustrated and written books from a diverse spectrum of creators across the United States and around the world. Throughout his career he has been identified with the editing and publishing of such world-renowned authors as Alaya Dawn Johnson, Daniel Nayeri, Emma Donoghue, Shaun Tan and others. He is proud of a career-long commitment to inclusion and representation, publishing such great writers and illustrators as Lisa Yee, Dan Santat, Quiara Hudes, Francisco Stork, Eric Gansworth, Gary Soto, Sarah Moon and many others.

www.levinequerido.com
twitter: Arthalevine1

Tiffany Liao, editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers/ macmillan

Tiff Liao is Senior Editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. Some of her recent titles include the #1 New York Times-bestseller Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and its bestselling sequel Children of Virtue and Vengeance, The Merciful Crow series by Margaret Owen, A Game of Fox & Squirrels by Jenn Reese, I Am Perfectly Designed by "Queer Eye" star Karamo Brown and Jason Brown, and the upcoming Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Prior to joining Holt, she was an editor at Penguin Young Readers.

http://www.mackidsbooks.com/staff/ Twitter: @tiff_liao

Darcie Little Badger, AUTHOR OF ELATSOE

Darcie Little Badger is a Lipan Apache writer with a PhD in oceanography. Her debut novel, Elatsoe, was featured in Time Magazine as one of the best 100 fantasy novels of all time. Darcie's short fiction, nonfiction and comics have appeared in multiple places, including Marvel's Voices: Indigenous Voices #1, Nightmare Magazine and Strange Horizons. She currently lives on both coasts of the United States and is engaged to a veterinarian.

https://darcielittlebadger.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @shiningcomic Instagram: @dr.littlebadger

juana martinez-neal, author illustrator of Zonia's Rain Forest & La Selva de Zonia & alma and how she got her name

Juana Martinez-Neal is the recipient of the 2019 Caldecott Honor for Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick Press), her debut picture book as author-illustrator. She also the recipient of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Story (Roaring Brook) and the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea (Putnam).

Juana was named to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor list in 2014, and was awarded the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize in 2012. She was born in Lima, the capital of Peru, and now lives in Arizona, with her husband and three children.

juanamartinezneal.com
@juanamartinez (twitter), @juanamartinezn (instagram)

tamar mays, Executive Editor, HarperCollins

Executive Editor Tamar Mays joined HarperCollins in 2005. Previously she was a bookseller, a children’s book buyer, an editor at Dutton, and the manager of Scholastic’s Lucky School Book Club, for 2nd and 3rd graders. Tamar’s editorial focus is early childhood, from birth to third grade. Tamar has a strong affinity for illustrated work and loves acquiring picture books with humor and warmth. She would love to have more author-illustrator submissions as well as more #ownvoices projects. Recent noteworthy projects are STRONG VOICES: 15 AMERICAN SPEECHES WORTH KNOWING, with introductions by Tonya Bolden and art by Eric Velasquez; MY BABY LOVES CHRISTMAS, the first in a holiday board book series by Jabari Asim with illustrations by Tara Nicole Whitaker; TY’S TRAVELS, an upcoming I Can Read series by Kelly Starling Lyons with illustrations by Nina Mata; and an exciting future picture book by Angela Dalton.

meg medina, AUthor of Merci Suárez Can't Dance

Meg Medina is the 2019 Newbery award-winning and New York Times best-selling author who writes picture books, as well as middle grade and young adult fiction. Her works have been called “heartbreaking,” “lyrical” and “must haves for every collection.” She lives with her family in Richmond, Va.

www.megmedina.com Twitter: @Meg-Medina Instagram: MegMedinaBooks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meg.medina.10

Pre-orders for Merci Suárez Can’t Dance available HERE

denene millner, EDITOR OF DENENE MILLNER BOOKS, A SIMON & SCHUSTER IMPRINT

Denene Millner is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of 31 books, including "The Fresh Princess," co-written with Will Smith, and "The Vow," the novel on which the Lifetime movie, “With This Ring,” was based. Denene also is editor of Denene Millner Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint that won Newbery and Caldecott honors and the Kirkus Prize for Children’s Literature in its debut year. Denene also is co-host of Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “A Seat at the Table,” a talk show about black women, and host of “Speakeasy,” a podcast that examines blackness. She has written for NPR, Essence, Glamour and Women's Health, among other publications.

https://www.victoriasanders.com/authors/millner
@mybrownbaby

sydnee monday, assistant editor, kokila

Sydnee Monday is an assistant editor at Kokila/Penguin Young Readers. She wants to read about under-celebrated BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled figures in history and how we move towards utopia. A graduate of Howard University, she mentors young people with Read Ahead and the Governor’s Committee on Scholastic Achievement.

https://www.penguin.com/publishers/kokila/
All social media: @SydneeMonday

Susan Muaddi Darraj, author of farah rocks & a curious land, stories from home

Susan Muaddi Darraj’s short story collection, A Curious Land: Stories from Home, was named the winner of the AWP Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction. It also won the 2016 Arab American Book Award, a 2016 American Book Award, and was shortlisted for a Palestine Book Award. In 2018, she was named a Ford Fellow by USA Artists.

In 2019, she launched the viral #TweetYourThobe social media campaign to promote Palestinian culture. Later that year, she was named winner of the Rose Nader Award, by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), an award given by the Nader family to a person who “demonstrates an unwavering dedication and commitment to values of equality and justice.”

In January 2020, Capstone Books launched her debut children’s chapter book series, Farah Rocks, about a smart, brave Palestinian American girl named Farah Hajjar. Farah Rocks is the first chapter book series to feature a Palestinian American protagonist.

www.SusanMuaddiDarraj.com
Twitter/Insta. @SusanDarraj

nadia owusu, author of aftershocks: a memoir

As young Nadia followed her father, a civil servant with the United Nations, around the globe, she bounced between Africa and Europe before moving to the United States to attend college. The fractured geography she called home mirrored the multiple identities she laid claim to through a Ghanaian father descended from Ashanti royalty and an Armenian American mother who abandoned Nadia when she was two. Nadia has, at different points in her life, felt stateless, motherless, and uncertain about who she really is.

NADIA OWUSU is a Brooklyn-based writer and urbanist and the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award. She was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and raised in Italy, Ethiopia, England, Ghana, and Uganda. Her first book, Aftershocks: A Memoir, was selected as one of 13 new books to watch for in January 2021 by the New York Times, and one of Oprah.com’s 55 most anticipated books of 2021, among other honors.

https://www.nadiaaowusu.com/

DARIA PEOPLES-RILEY, AUTHOR OF AMERICA, MY LOVE, AMERICA, MY HEART & THIS IS IT

Daria Peoples-Riley made her debut in children’s publishing with companion titles This Is It and I Got Next. Daria’s next picture book, America, My Love, America, My Heart invites readers of all ages to answer timely—and timeless—questions about their personal beliefs and attitudes toward the many different colors of America. Peoples-Riley is also the illustrator of Gloria Takes A Stand by Jessica M. Rinker, a picture book biography about Gloria Steinem and forthcoming Show The World by Angela Dalton, a picture book that asks children what they will do, say, or create to express who they are.

www.dariapeoples.com
@dariaspeoples (Instagram and Twitter)

Nonieqa ramos, author of your mama & hair story

NoNieqa Ramos wrote THE DISTURBED GIRL’S DICTIONARY, a 2019 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection and a 2019 In the Margins Top Ten pick. Hip Latina included her sophomore book THE TRUTH IS in the “10 of the Best Latinx Young Adult Books of 2019.” Remezcla included TTI in the “15 Best Books by Latino and Latin American Authors of 2019.” Versify will publish her debut picture book YOUR MAMA April 6th, 2021! Lerner will publish HAIR STORY September 2021. NoNieqa is a proud member of Las Musas, The Soaring 20s, and PB Debut Troupe 21 collectives.

https://www.soaring20spb.com/nonieqa-ramos https://www.pbdebut-troupe21.com/ All social media: @nonieqaramos

Pre-orders for Your Mama available HERE

olugbemisola rhuday-perkovich, author of OPERATION SISTERHOOD & IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS

Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich is the author 8th Grade Superzero, which was named a Notable Book for a Global Society and a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, and Ghostwriter/Sesame Workshop adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She is the coauthor of the middle grade novel Two Naomis, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and is a Junior Library Guild selection, and its sequel, the Nerdie award-winning Naomis Too. She also writes nonfiction, including Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow, and Someday is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-Ins. She is a member of the Brown Bookshelf, and editor of the We Need Diverse Books middle grade anthology, The Hero Next Door.

olugbemisolabooks.com
Instagram: @olugbemisolarhudayperkovich
Twitter: @olugbemisola

Aida Salazar, author of The Land of the Cranes & JOVITA WORE PANTS: THE STORY OF A REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTER

Aida Salazar​ is a writer and arts advocate whose writings for adults and children explore issues of identity and social justice. She is the author of the middle grade verse novels, THE MOON WITHIN (Winner of an Int'l Latino Book Award 2019), THE LAND OF THE CRANES (Fall, 2020), and the bio picture book JOVITA WORE PANTS: THE STORY OF A REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTER (Spring, 2021). All published by Scholastic. She is a founding member of Las Musas - a debut Latinx kidlit author collective. Her story, BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON, was adapted into a ballet production by the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history. She lives with her family of artists in a teal house in Oakland, CA.

www.AidaSalazar.com
Instagram and Twitter: @mimawrites

Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel, co-founder of Full Circle Literary

Stefanie (she/ella) is co-founder of Full Circle Literary, a literary agency with a focus on discovering, developing, and advocating underrepresented creators of books and media. Full Circle represents a diverse and inclusive family of award-winning authors and artists whose works break barriers and stand the test of time. Some of the creators Stefanie represents include Monica Brown, Carmen Tafolla, Diana López, Celia C. Pérez, Jasminne Mendez, David Bowles, Rafael López, John Parra, Estelí Meza and Juana Martinez-Neal, to name a few. Prior to agenting, she worked in editorial, publicity and trade marketing for Penguin and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. A proud Tejana from San Antonio, Stefanie is now based in southern California. She is a board member of Latinx in Publishing.

www.fullcircleliterary.com
@fullcirclelit

victoria sanders, founder of victoria sanders & associates

I founded Victoria Sanders & Associates in 1992, following law school graduation, and after working in the legal/contracts department of Simon & Schuster, and at two literary agencies. I represent a multi-cultural roster of internationally bestselling and award-winning authors, I endeavor to seek out and champion new and diverse voices and viewpoints. As a literary agent for these 25 years, I've taken great pride in having represented many of my clients for their entire careers. I am honored to work with the extraordinary group of visionary writers and thinkers who grace this agency, the publishing marketplace, and their devoted readers.

www.victoriasanders.com

sheetal sheth, author of always anjali

Sheetal Sheth is an acclaimed actress, producer, author, and activist. She is known for her provocative performances in a wide range of memorable roles on film and television. She has starred in over 20 feature films and many TV shows and is a favorite in the independent film world, having won five best actress awards on the film festival circuit. She has earned a loyal, international following. Sheetal began her career at a time when few South Asians were making their living as actors. Despite being told she'd have to change her name to work, her successful career has trail-blazed paths for other women of color across media. Sheth supports marginalized communities not only through her own pioneering work as an actor, but by also appearing at workshops and panels and speaking directly to issues facing those communities. She is known as an outspoken advocate and has delivered talks and keynotes at festivals and charity galas. She's had op-eds published on CNN, The Daily Beast, and Thrive Global. She served in President Clinton's AmeriCorps and is currently on the advisory board of Equality Now and an ambassador for CA First Partner, Jennifer Newsom's, The Representation Project. Her Anjali book series is the first and only illustrated book series featuring a South Asian hero.

www.sheetalsheth.com
Twitter: @sheetalsheth Instagram: @beneaththesheetz Facebook: @OfficialSheetalSheth

Pre-orders for Bravo Anjali! available HERE

Simran jeet singh, author of fauja singh keeps going

Simran Jeet Singh is a writer, teacher, scholar, and activist. He is a Soros Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundation, a Racial Equity Media Fellow with the Interfaith Youth Core, and a Senior Fellow for the Sikh Coalition. He also hosts two shows: a video web series titled Anti-Racism as a Spiritual Practice and Spirited, an interview-based podcast that explores diverse perspectives on faith and justice. Simran is the author of a new children's book from Penguin Random House (Kokila)– Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon – the first from a major publisher to feature a Sikh story. Simran is currently writing an adult non-fiction book for Penguin Random House (Riverhead) entitled More of This Please: Sikh Wisdom for the Soul.

www.simranjeetsingh.org
@SikhProf on all social media

jess x. snow, author/illustrator of we always had wings & Illustrator of The ocean calls

Jess X. Snow is a non-binary film director, artist, poet, children’s book author and community arts educator who creates queer asian immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries and time. They are the author and illustrator of We Always Had Wings, (Make Me a World/Randomhouse) in Fall 2022. They also illustrated The Ocean Calls, (Kokila/Penguin Young Readers) a 2020 Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book0 and a Booklist Editor’s Choice book. They bring their background in social movement art, poetry and trauma-informed healing into their film work which has been supported by the Tribeca Film Institute, Canada Council of the Arts, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Center, and Inside Out.

www.jessxsnow.com
@jessxsnow

TASHA SPILLETT, AUTHOR OF I sang you down from the stars

Tasha Spillett draws her strength from both her Nehiyaw and Trinidadian bloodlines. She is a new mother, a celebrated educator, author, poet and emerging scholar, but is most heart-tied to contributing to community lead work that centers land and water defense, and the protection of Indigenous women and girls. Tasha is a PhD Candidate at the University of Saskatchewan, where she holds a Vanier Canada Award. In her work as a doctoral student, she is weaving together her cultural identity, and commitment to community to produce a body of research that amplifies Indigenous women’s demands for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People, and serves as a continuation of the resistance against the assault of colonialism.

tashaspillett.com All social media: @tasha.spillett

Pre-orders for I Sang You Down From the Stars available HERE

Kelly Starling Lyons, author of Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon & Going Down Home with Daddy

Kelly Starling Lyons is an award-winning author, teaching artist and founding member of The Brown Bookshelf. Her titles for children span easy readers, picture books, chapter books, fiction, nonfiction, and series. For more than a decade, Lyons has created inspiring books that center Black heroes, celebrate family, friendship and heritage and show all children the storyteller they hold inside. Her titles include Caldecott Honor winner Going Down Home with Daddy, Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice & Sing Inspired Generations, Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon, Tiara's Hat Parade and the Jada Jones and Ty’s Travels series.

www.kellystarlinglyons.com
Twitter: kelstarly FaceBook: www.facebook.com/kellystarlinglyons

javaka steptoe, author / illustrator of Radiant child & in daddy’s arms i am tall

Javaka Steptoe’s debut picture book, In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers (Lee & Low Books, ), earned him a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, a 1998 NAACP Image Awards nomination for Outstanding Children’s Literature Work and a host of other honors. Since then, he has illustrated and/or written more than an dozen books for young readers, collaborating with some of the top names in the business—Walter Dean Myers, Nikki Grimes, Karen English.

One critic explained about his work, “Javaka Steptoe utilizes everyday objects from aluminum plates to pocket lint, and sometimes a jigsaw and paint, to deliver reflective and thoughtful collage creations filled with vitality, playful energy and strength.”

In January 2017, Javaka won the 2017 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award and the 2017 Caldecott Medal for his picture book biography Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Little, Brown), more than thirty years after his father won two Caldecott Honors.

Javaka.com
All social media: @javaka_steptoe

Misa Sugiura, author of It's Not Like It's a Secret and This Time Will Be Different

Misa Sugiura's ancestors include a poet, a priestess, a samurai, and a stowaway. She is the author of two critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels, It's Not Like It's a Secret and This Time Will Be Different, and a short story in the anthology, Come On In: 15 Stories of Immigration and Finding Home. Misa lives in the San Francisco Bay Area under a giant oak tree with her husband, two sons, and three cats.

www.misasugiura.com
@misallaneous_1 (Twitter and Instagram)

Liara Tamani, AUTHOR OF All The things we never knew

Liara Tamani lives in Houston, Texas. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College. She is the author of the acclaimed Calling My Name, which was a 2018 PEN America Literary Award Finalist and SCBWI Golden Kite Finalist, and All the Things We Never Knew, which was a 2020 Kirkus Best YA Book of the Year.

liaratamani.com Twitter: @liaratamani Instagram: @liaratamani

nick thomas, senior editor with levine querido

Nick Thomas is a Senior Editor with Levine Querido. Previously, he was Senior Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, where he started as an Editorial Assistant. He has also held positions with Bloomsbury, Chicken House, and David Fickling Books before returning to his AALB roots. He edits middle grade and young adult books, and looks for stories that change something about you by the time you’re finished.

www.levinequerido.com
@LevineQuerido

namrata tripathi, Vice President and Publisher of Kokila, Penguin Young Readers

Namrata Tripathi is Vice President and Publisher of Kokila, a new imprint at Penguin Young Readers dedicated to centering stories from the margins. She was born in the USSR, and lived in Afghanistan, India, Canada, Pakistan, Germany, and Poland before moving to New York in 1997. Prior to launching Kokila, Tripathi edited many critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling books, including Islandborn, for which illustrator Leo Espinosa received a Pura Belpré Honor; John Corey Whaley’s Printz Award-winning debut, Where Things Come Back; and Veera Hiranandani’s The Night Diary, a 2019 Newbery Honor winner.

https://www.penguin.com/publishers/kokila/
Social Media: @Tweetpathi

weslie turner, senior editor AT VERSIFY, imprint at houghton mifflin harcourt

Weslie Turner is a Senior Editor at the Versify imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She has edited books for all ages, including the Dactyl Hill Squad series by New York Times-bestselling author Daniel José Older, A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney, and the anthology Vampires Never Get Old, edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker. She loves identity-specific stories from creators from underrepresented backgrounds and especially enjoys original speculative fiction, fantasy, and science fiction.

JENNIFER UNG, EXECUTIVE EDITOR AT QUILL TREE BOOKS/HARPERCOLLNS

Jennifer Ung is an Executive Editor at Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins. Her previous experience includes editing novels for kids and teens at Simon & Schuster, where she had the privilege of working with bestselling and award-winning authors such as Sandhya Menon, Akemi Dawn Bowman, Brittney Morris, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Gloria Chao, and Raquel Vasquez Gilliland. Jen is committed to championing underrepresented voices across middle grade and young adult fiction, and is in particular drawn to joyful stories that explore extraordinary emotions and life-defining relationships. Find her on twitter @jenpanda.

Jasmine warga, AUTHOR OF THE SHAPE OF THUNDER & OTHER WORDS FOR HOME

Jasmine Warga is the Newbery Honor award-winning author of Other Words For Home, and YA books, My Heart and Other Black Holes, and Here We Are Now. Her next book for young readers, The Shape of Thunder, will be published in May 2021. She lives in the Chicago area with her family.

jasminewarga.com
Twitter: @jasminewarga Instagram: @jasminewargabooks

renee watson, author of Love is a revolution & Piecing me together

Renée Watson is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, and activist. Her young adult novel, Piecing Me Together (Bloomsbury, 2017) received a Coretta Scott King Award and Newbery Honor. Her poetry and fiction often center around the experiences of black girls and women, and explores themes of home, identity, and the intersections of race, class, and gender. Renée served as Founder and Executive Director of I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit committed to nurturing underrepresented voices in the creative arts, from 2016-2019. Renée grew up in Portland, Oregon, and splits her time between Portland and New York City.

www.reneewatson.net Twitter: @reneewauthor Instagram: @harlemportland

Pre-orders for Love is a Revolution available HERE

Stacy whitman, founder and publisher of tu books / imprint of lee & low books

Stacy Whitman is the founder and publisher of Tu Books, the middle grade and YA imprint of Lee & Low Books. She founded the New Visions Award, which honors a new unpublished writer of color. She holds a master's degree in children's literature from Simmons University.

leeandlow.com/imprints/tu-books

@stacylwhitman (Twitter), @tubooks (Twitter), @leeandlow (Twitter and Instagram)

alicia D. williams, author of JUMP AT THE SUN: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston & GENESIS BEGINS AGAIN

Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received a Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and won the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, Alicia celebrates her picture book Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston.

www.aliciadwilliams.com Facebook & Instagram: authoraliciadwilliams Twitter: @storiestolife

Pre-orders for Shirley Chisholm Dared available HERE

rita williams-garcia, author of a sitting in st. james & clayton byrd goes underground

Rita Williams-Garcia, a Queens, New York native, is the celebrated author of novels for young adults and middle grade readers. Her most recent novel, Clayton Byrd Goes Underground won the 2018 NAACP Image Award and was a 2017 National Book Award Finalist. Williams-Garcia is most known for her multiple award-winning Gaither Sisters trilogy. She is both a three-time Coretta Scott King Author Award recipient and National Book Award Finalist. Her forthcoming historical novel, A Sitting in St. James marks her return to young adult fiction.

www.ritawg.com Twitter: @onecrazyrita Instagram: @ritawilliamsgarcia

Pre-orders of A Sitting in St. James available HERE

PHOEBE YEH, VP/PRESIDENT, CROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

Phoebe Yeh is the Vice President and co-publisher at Crown Books for Young Readers/Random House. She worked with Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen on The Magic School Bus series and with Walter Dean Myers for twenty years. She has published the New York Times bestsellers, Max & the Midknights (Lincoln Peirce), Dear Justyce and debut novels Dear Martin and Clean Getaway (Nic Stone); YA anthology, Once Upon a Universe in partnership with We Need Diverse Books; The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson; debut tween novel Isaiah Dunn is My Hero (Kelly J. Baptist), a BEA MG BOOK BUZZ selection; debut YA verse novel Chlorine Sky (Mahogany L. Browne), a Bookriot and Bustle Best of title; Sprouting Wings: The True Story of James Herman Banning, The First African American Pilot to Fly Across the United States (Louisa Jaggar & Shari Becker/Floyd Cooper) and the Fairy Science picture books (Ashley Spires). She is a recipient of the inaugural CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award.

brian young, author of healer of the water monster, Contributor to Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

Author and filmmaker, Brian Young is a graduate of both Yale University with a Bachelor’s in Film Studies and Columbia University with a Master’s in Creative Writing Fiction. An enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, he grew up on the Navajo Reservation but now currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. As an undergraduate, Brian won a fellowship with the prestigious Sundance Ford Foundation with one of his feature length scripts. He has worked on several short films including Tsídii Nááts’íílid – Rainbow Bird and A Conversation on Race with Native Americans for the short documentary series produced by the New York Times. Brian is currently working on his two books with Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins. In addition to film and writing, Brian also works as a personal trainer, both online and in person.

https://brianlyoung.com/ Instagram: @HastiinChish
https://www.facebook.com/hastiinchish/

Pre-orders for Healer of the Water Monster available HERE

IBI ZOBOI, AUTHOR OF punching the air & AMERICAN STREET

Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times bestselling author of American Street, National Book Award finalist, Pride, My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, and Punching the Air with co-author and Exonerated Five member, Yusef Salaam. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her husband and their three children.

www.ibizoboi.net
Twitter: @ibizoboi