Guo & Vulchi
In 2014, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo entered sophomore year of high school, only a few months after the murder of Eric Garner and protests in Ferguson, Missouri. In their home state of New Jersey, financial literacy was a requirement, but racial literacy—the ability to think about and act on race and racial injustice—had been […]
Ford
Dr. Claudia J. Ford is a professor of Environmental Studies at State University of New York, Potsdam, a Fellow of the Panel on Planetary Thinking at Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, a Fulbright Scholar, a SUNY PRODiG Faculty, and a Research Professor and Distinguished Visiting Faculty at the University at Buffalo. Claudia began her career […]
Askaripour
New York Times bestselling author Mateo Askaripour wants people to feel seen. Mateo’s work aims to empower people of color to seize opportunities for advancement, no matter the obstacle. His first novel, Black Buck, takes on racism in corporate America with humor and wit. Askaripour was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly’s “10 rising stars […]
Magaziner
Lauren is the internationally bestselling author of four series: The Incorruptibles, Case Closed, The Mythics, and This Book is Trying to Kill You. She has also written three other stand-alone books for middle grade readers. Her books are available in over a dozen languages, have been longlisted for the PADIBA award, have been Junior Library […]
Wong
Jack Wong (黃雋喬) is the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award-winning author/illustrator of When You Can Swim (Scholastic) as well as the picture books The Words We Share (Annick Press, Fall 2023), All That Grows (Groundwood Books, Spring 2024), The Music Inside Us: Yo-Yo Ma & His Gifts to the World (Spring 2025) and Goodbye, Koi (Fall […]
Sterling
Michelle Sterling is a children’s book author, photographer and speech-language pathologist living in Orange County, California. Many of her stories are inspired by her heritage, family traditions, and her love of gastronomy and food history. When Lola Visits, Michelle’s first picture book illustrated by Aaron Asis, received four starred reviews, was an ALA Notable Children’s […]
Burke Kunkel
Angela Burke Kunkel is an educator by day and a writer in the very early mornings. Her debut picture book, Digging For Words, José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built (Schwartz & Wade), celebrates perseverance, community, and the power of books. Digging For Words was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and is the […]
Conklin
Lydi Conklin (they/them) has received a Stegner Fellowship, four Pushcart Prizes, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, a Creative Writing Fulbright in Poland, a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, work-study and tuition scholarships from Bread Loaf, and fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Emory University, Hedgebrook, Djerassi, the James Merrill House, Lighthouse Works, and elsewhere. Their […]
Berry
Erica Berry is the author of Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear (Flatiron Books, 2023), a kaleidoscopic blend of memoir, science, cultural criticism, journalism and folklore. Wolfish was the winner of the 2024 Oregon Book Award in Creative Nonfiction and a semifinalist for the Pacific Northwest Book Award. Researched over the […]
Agostini
Buffalo, NY native Alliah L. Agostini is an award-winning marketer who has marketed everything from iconic brands to scrappy start-ups, but motherhood helped her return to her first love: children’s literature. She writes and speaks to spread joy, truth, and to help more children see themselves reflected on the page. Alliah is a widely sought-after […]