A. C. Gaughen is the author of the Scarlet Trilogy (Scarlet, Lady Thief and Lion Heart) and the Elementae series, including Reign the Earth and…
A.M. (Amanda) Jenkins is the author of six YA novels, including the Printz Honor Book Repossessed and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist Damage.…
Adam Gidwitz is the author of the Newbery Honor winning The Inquisitor’s Tale, the best-seller A Tale Dark AND Grimm and its companions, and the…
Special Guest Alisa Alering is an award-winning writer of speculative short fiction. Her stories have appeared in Flash Fiction Online, the anthologies Missing Links and Secret…
Special Guest Alison Green Myers wanted to join the circus. She wanted to train tigers. She wanted to jump through fire. She wanted to stand…
Allison Hunter Hill is an Associate Editor at Page Street Kids, where she currently acquires children’s picture books. She was previously an Assistant Editor at…
An Na was born in South Korea and grew up in San Diego, California. She is the author of three novels: A Step from Heaven, Wait for…
Special SKYPE Guest Andi Diehn is a writer and editor with an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. She is the author of 12…
Special Guest Andrea Cascardi has held senior editorial positions at Random House and Disney Publishing, and was an agent with Transatlantic for ten years before…
Andrea J. Loney’s picture book Bunnybear (Albert Whitman & Company) is about a bear who believes in his heart that he’s really a bunny. Her…
Angela Dominguez was born in Mexico City, grew up in the great state of Texas, and now resides on the east coast. She is the…
Anna Raff is an award-winning illustrator of books for children including World Rat Day, A Big Surprise for Little Card, You Are Not a Cat!…
Anna-Marie McLemore (she/her) was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and taught by her family to hear la llorona in the Santa…
Anne Ursu is the author of several books for young readers and is the 2013 recipient of the McKnight Fellowship in Children’s Literature. Anne’s novel…
Aram Kim is a children’s book author/illustrator and a picture book designer. She was born in Ohio, raised in South Korea, and now lives in…
Ashley Hope Pérez is the author of three novels: Out of Darkness (2015), The Knife and the Butterfly (2012), and What Can’t Wait (2011). Out of Darkness was described by The New York Times…
Ashley Wolff has been a visual artist since she declared herself one at the age of five. She grew up in Middlebury, Vermont, and holds…
Special Guest Baptiste Paul is a Caribbean-born author of two books for children. His debut picture book, The Field, received starred reviews from Kirkus, The…
Special Guest Beth Terrill is the US picture book editor for NorthSouth Books. Beth works on fiction and non-fiction picture books. She recently edited Frida…
Bethany Hegedus’ books include the award-winningGrandfather Gandhi and the newly released Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story, both co-written with Arun Gandhi, grandson to…
Carmen Oliver is the author of picture book Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies about which Kirkus said, “Children will surely want their own large…
Special Guest Carol Hinz is Editorial Director of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books, imprints of Lerner Publishing Group. She oversees and edits a range of…
Carole Boston Weatherford is an award-winning author of children’s books, including Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America (NAACP Image Award), Voice…
Carolyn Dee Flores is the author and illustrator of The Amazing Watercolor Fish which broke new ground in picture book design and format by becoming…
Carolyn is currently senior editor of Calkins Creek Books—the U.S. history imprint of Boyds Mills Press. Calkins Creek specializes in nonfiction and historical fiction picture…
Special Guest Carrie Pearson feels that being a children’s book author represents the best merger of her education, occupations, and passion. She holds a BA…
Special Guest Christine Heppermann is the author of Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty, which was selected as a 2014 Best Book for Young Adults…
Clara Gillow Clark is a critically acclaimed author of six novels of historical fiction for middle grade readers. In addition to many of her books…
Crystal Allen is the author of several middle grade novels: How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy (Balzer and Bray 2011), The Laura Line…
Published in ten languages, children’s book author and writing teacher Darcy Pattison has been published with Harcourt, Philomel/Penguin, Harpercollins, Arbordale, and Mims House. Her books…
Darlene Tenes was the founder and Chief Executive Maniac of Marketing Maniacs, Inc., a Silicon Valley event marketing and management firm. Founded in 1998, the…
Special Guest Debbi Michiko Florence, a third generation Japanese American, is a former classroom teacher and zoo educator. Her debut chapter book series is Jasmine…
Special Guest Dr. Debbie Reese, PhD (@debreese) is an educator and author of the popular blog, American Indians in Children’s Literature. She is a founding…
Deborah Kovacs is co-founder and core contributor to Walden Pond Press, the joint imprint of HarperCollins and Walden Media specializing in middle-grade fiction. Authors published…
Denise Fleming is the author/illustrator of many award-winning picture books. Fleming’s books are created in her signature style of pulp painting—a paper making technique. Often…
Diana Murray is the author of over a dozen rhyming picture books, including City Shapes (Little, Brown), which was a Jr. Library Guild Selection, and…
Don Tate is an award-winning author, and the illustrator of numerous critically acclaimed books for children, including The Cart That Carried Martin(Charlesbridge); Hope’s Gift (Penguin); Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite…
Special Guest DongWon Song is an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency representing science fiction and fantasy for adults, young adult, and middle grade readers…
Donna Janell Bowman is the author of the picture book biography Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness, which…
Chef Douglas Rodriguez, the globally acclaimed Godfather of Nuevo Latino Cuisine, blazed the trail and has inspired Chefs around the world with his culinary creativity…
Edith Campbell is an assistant Education Librarian in the Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University. Edith currently serves as the Indiana State Ambassador for…
Eileen has helped many writers become first-time authors during her years at Scholastic. For almost ten years, she acquired, developed, and edited children’s books for…
Special Guest Elise McMullen-Ciotti is a freelance editor, writer, and educator who has worked in children’s book publishing since 2012. Her clients have included Scholastic,…
Originally trained as an architect, Elizabeth Rose Stanton segued over to fine art and design while raising her family. Now she builds picture books! Her…
Special Guest Ellice Lee is the Associate Art Director of Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, where she art directs and designs…
Emma D. Dryden founded drydenbks LLC (www.drydenbks.com), a premiere children’s editorial & publishing consultancy firm, after 25 years experience as editor and publisher of Margaret…
Emma Otheguy is the author of the bilingual picture book Martí’s Song for Freedom (Lee & Low, 2017) about Cuban poet and national hero José…
Floyd Cooper is the Coretta Scott King award-winning illustrator of more than 60 books for children. Floyd started his career in illustration at Hallmark, after…
Gail Carson Levine’s poetry collection for adults, Transient, came out in July, 2016, from Nightshade Press, an imprint of Keystone College Press. Her poems have…
Special Guest Gareth Hinds is the creator of critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics, including Beowulf (which Publisher’s Weekly called a “mixed-media gem”), King…
Georgia Heard received her M.F.A. in poetry writing from Columbia University. She is a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in…
Special SKYPE Guest Gwendolyn Hooks is the author of 17 books for children. She writes both fiction and nonfiction to encourage children to explore their…
Harold is an author and independent children’s book editor who works with authors and publishers. Harold enjoys teaching, and in that role wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide to…
Heather L. Montgomery writes for kids who are wild about animals. An award-winning educator, Heather uses yuck appeal to engage young minds. She is a…
Heidi didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida.…
Special Guest Higgins Bond has been a freelance illustrator and fine artist for over forty years. She earned a BFA Degree in Advertising Design from…
James E. Ransome is the award-winning illustrator of over 60 picture books. He has been illustrating books, book jackets, greeting cards and magazines for over…
Jan Cheripko is author of seven books for children and young adults, including the award-winning YA novel,Imitate the Tiger. For more than twenty-five years, Mr.…
Jan Fields had her first brush with educational publishing when an editor happened upon her webpage and asked if she’d write a book for their…
Janvieve Williams Comrie, Founder and Principal of Aligned Strategy , is a human rights strategist, trainer and organizer with a deep commitment to assist in…
Special Guest Jennifer Herrera joined the David Black Agency in 2015 after working at Fletcher & Company and Europa Editions, where she was an early…
Jennifer is the author of many award-winning children’s books including Small as an Elephant (IRA Young Adult’s Choice, Parents’ Choice Gold Award), Paper Things (ILA…
Jennifer Swanson is a self-professed science geek and the author of over twenty-five nonfiction and fiction books. She is the author of Brain Games (NGKids, 2015) and…
Jerry Pinkney is an award-winning author/illustrator. He won the 2010 Caldecott Medal for The Lion & the Mouse. He has also received five Caldecott Honors,…
Jessixa Bagley is a children’s book author/illustrator as well as a practicing fine artist, and comics creator. She has been making books, drawing pictures, and…
Special Guest Jill Davis is an executive editor at HarperCollins. She has been working in children’s editorial since 1992. She began her career at Random…
Special Guest Jim Hill holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts where he learned to…
Special Guest Joanna Volpe is a literary agent and the president of New Leaf Literary & Media, where she represents a broad reach of fiction…
Jocelyn Davies is a children’s book editor and young adult author. Over the course of her career, she has acquired, edited, and developed books for…
Special Guest Joni Sussman is the Publisher at Kar-Ben Publishing, a division of Lerner Publishing Group headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With over 300 titles in…
Joseph Bruchac is a writer and traditional storyteller who lives in the Adirondack Mountains Region of northern New York in the house he was raised…
Julie C. Dao is a proud Vietnamese-American who was born in upstate New York. She studied medicine in college, but came to realize blood and…
K.L. Going is the award winning author of numerous books for children and teens. Her first novel, Fat Kid Rules the World, was named a Michael Printz…
Special Guest Karen Boss is an editor at Charlesbridge. She holds an MA in Children’s Literature from Simmons College and is now a mentor in…
Special Guest Kat Brzozowski is a senior editor at Swoon Reads/Feiwel & Friends. She has edited a wide range of young adult fiction, including Anna-Marie…
Special Guest Kat Yeh is the award-winning author of middle grade novels, The Way to Bea (Sept, 2017) and The Truth About Twinkie Pie (an…
Katherine Locke lives and writes in Philadelphia where they’re ruled by their feline overlords and their addiction to chai lattes. They secretly believe most stories…
Kathi Appelt’s books have won numerous national and state awards, including the Irma and Simon Black Award, Children’s Choice Award, Teacher’s Choice Award, the Oppenheimer…
Kathy spent fifteen years as a lawyer before turning to her first love: writing. She was lucky to work with Patricia Gauch and her debut…
Kathryn Otoshi is a multi-award winning author, illustrator and national/international speaker living in Los Angeles. She travels to schools across the country to encourage children…
Special Guest Katie Carella, Executive Editor, oversees Scholastic’s Acorn early reader line and Branches early chapter book line. Her career began on the adult side…
Special Guest Kelly Light lives in New York but grew up down the shore in New Jersey surrounded by giant pink dinosaurs, cotton candy colors,…
Kelly Starling Lyons is a children’s book author whose mission is to transform moments, memories and history into stories of discovery. Her books include chapter…
Special Guest Kevin Lewis is an agent at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. A twenty year veteran of children’s publishing; Kevin Lewis started his career…
Kristy Dempsey grew up in South Carolina and now works as a teacher-librarian in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a bustling city of 5 million people. She…
Laura Beltchenko is a thirty-four year veteran educator. Her career in public education includes classroom teacher, reading specialist, as well as district level administration. She…
Special Guest Laura M. Jiménez is a lecturer at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. She teaches children’s literature courses that focus…
Laura Ruby is the author of the YA novel Bone Gap, a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, and the…
Special Guest Laura Sibson was raised in the Baltimore suburbs. She moved to Philadelphia for her undergraduate degree and then to Virginia and Texas for…
Special Guest Lauren Castillo studied illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art and received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New…
Laurie Calkhoven is the author of more than 50 books for young readers ranging from award-winning nonfiction early readers to YA adaptations of adult books.…
Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her…
Leah Henderson has always loved getting lost in stories. When she is not scribbling down her characters’ adventures, she is off on her own, exploring…
Lesa Cline-Ransome’s first book was the biography Satchel Paige, an ALA Notable Book and a Bank Street College “Best Children’s Book of the Year. She…
Lesléa Newman is the author of 70 books for readers of all ages including the children’s classic, Heather Has Two Mommies, the middle-grade novel Hachiko…
Leslie Helakoski is the author and sometimes illustrator of 11 picture books. Her newest additions are Ready or Not, Woolbur Goes to School (HarperCollins) 2018 and…
Lila Quintero Weaver is the author of a children’s novel, My Year in the Middle (Candlewick Press, 2018). Previously, she wrote and illustrated a graphic…
Special Guest Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning writer and author of the young adult novels Dealing in Dreams, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster on March…
Special Guest Linda Epstein is an agent at Emerald City Literary. She represents picture books, middle grade and young adult novels, and children’s non-fiction. She…
Linda Sue Park has been writing stories for as long as she can remember. She was nine years old when she saw her words published…
Special Guest Lindsay Barrett George was born in the West Indies and grew up in New Jersey. She received a BFA degree from Manhattanville College…
Special Guest Lindsey Lane is an award-winning author, playwright and journalist. She is the author of young adult novel Evidence of Things Not Seen, (Farrar,…
Special Guest Lisa Cinelli is an award-winning painter, childrenʼs book author/illustrator and a Teaching Artist. She is happiest exploring story ideas, experimenting with materials and…
Lori Nichols is the author and illustrator of the award-winning picture book, Maple. She grew up in Western Pennsylvania marveling at everything from acorns to…
Lucy Ruth Cummins is an author, an illustrator, and an art director of children’s books. Her debut picture book, A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling…
Luz Marina Rodriguez, Founding Principal of Visionary Allies, is a sought-after coach and mentor to many social change agents for her expertise in fundraising, capacity-building…
Special Guest Lynne Polvino has been with Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company, for twenty years. Some of the notable titles on…
Special Guest Marie O’Neill is Creative Director for editorial at Highlights for Children, where she leads the overall design sensibility for all children’s products published…
Special Guest Marilisa Jiménez García is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in Latino/a literature and culture. Particularly interested in the intersections of race, gender, nationalism, and…
Special Guest Matthew Winner is an elementary school librarian living in Howard County, Maryland. He is the host of The Children’s Book Podcast (formerly All The…
Meg Medina has written for adults and children for over fifteen years. She is a generous mentor and gifted speaker. She is the 2016 recipient…
Special Guest Mela Bolinao has a B.A. degree in Art History with a concentration in Visual Arts from Barnard College. After graduation in 1995, she…
Melanie Crowder is the acclaimed author of several books for young readers, including Audacity, Three Pennies, An Uninterrupted View of the Sky, A Nearer Moon and Parched,…
Melanie is a children’s book illustrator, fine artist, and college professor. She has called the Hudson Valley home for more than thirty years. She studied…
Special Guest Melissa Frain is a Senior Editor at Tor Books, a division of Macmillan, where she acquires and edits for the Tor Teen line.…
Special Guest Melissa Wyatt is the author of two young adult novels, Funny How Things Change, named to the YALSA BBYA and Kirkus Best Young…
Merrill Rainey is the creator and owner of LittleRainey Illustration & Design, which is a children’s illustration and design studio based out of Northwest Ohio.…
Mike Curato is the author and illustrator of everyone’s favorite polka-dotted elephant, Little Elliot. His debut title,Little Elliot, Big City (Henry Holt Books for Young…
Miranda Paul is an award-winning picture book author. In addition to more than 50 short stories, articles, and poems for magazines and digital markets, Miranda…
Nancy Werlin is the author of nine young-adult novels that range from contemporary realism to mystery to fantasy. Her books include the New York Times…
Special Guest Nicole Valentine holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is currently working on…
Nidhi Chanani is a freelance illustrator, cartoonist and writer. She is the owner of Everyday Love Art. Her debut graphic novel, Pashmina, was released by…
Special Guest Nikki Grimes, New York Times bestselling author, is the recipient of the 2017 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award,…
Special Guest Padma Venkatraman has lived in five countries, worked as chief scientist on oceanographic vessels, and even spent time scuba diving before becoming an…
Special Guest Pat Cummings is the author and/or illustrator of over 40 books for young readers. Along with teaching children’s book classes at Pratt and…
Patrice Caldwell is a writer, Associate Editor at Disney-Hyperion, and the founder & fundraising chair of People of Color in Publishing, a grassroots organization dedicated…
Former vice president and editor at large of Philomel Books, Patti is now a fulltime writer and lecturer. She has authored more than 40 picture…
Special Guest Patty Courtright is an assistant editor and the reader-mail specialist at Highlights magazine, where she has worked in a variety of roles for…
Paula Chase-Hyman doesn’t mind being known as a Jane of all trades, Queen of none. But a single theme has followed throughout her career in…
Paula Morrow has been a children’s literature specialist for over 40 years and still enjoys each new day in the world of children’s books and…
Special Guest Paula Yoo is a children’s book author and TV writer/producer. Her latest YA non-fiction book about Vincent Chin, whose brutal beating death by…
Special Guest Rachel Werner is the Content Marketing Specialist for Taliesin Preservation—a National Historic Landmark and the home, studio, school, and 800-acre estate of Frank…
Rebecca M. Davis is a senior editor for Boyds Mills Press and for WordSong, the only imprint in the United States dedicated to children’s poetry.…
Rebecca is an author and poet whose poetry appears in many award-winning collections, in dozens of anthologies and textbooks, and in major children’s magazines. Rebecca…
Special Guest Rebecca Kuss first realized the power of words as a kid, when her friends would pay her to write Hanson fan fiction for…
Rena is the author of The Sisters of the Winter Wood and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars Program, where she majored in poetry and…
Special Guest Renée Watson is a New York Times Bestselling author, educator, and activist. Her young adult novel, Piecing Me Together (Bloomsbury, 2017) received a…
Special Guest Rob Costello writes fiction for and about LGBTQIA+ youth. He holds an MFA in Writing from the Writing for Children and Young Adults…
Rob Sanders is a writer who teaches, and a teacher who writes. A native of Springfield, Missouri, he has lived in Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee.…
Special Guest Ruth Horowitz’s six books for young children include picture books Are We Still Friends?, which PJ Library reissued as a Rosh Hashanah selection,…
Salina Yoon is the award-winning and bestselling author and illustrator of over 160 books for children, with over 3.5 million books sold worldwide. She was…
Sarah Aronson has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and has published three novels: Head Case,…
Sean Qualls is an award -winning artist, author & illustrator of children’s books who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His titles include Emmanuel’s Dream,…
Shadra Strickland is an award-winning illustrator. She won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009…
Shelley Tanaka is the author of more than twenty nonfiction books for children and young adults, including seven titles in the award-winning I Was There…
Special Guest Rabbi Shirley Idelson serves as Senior Advisor at the Harold Grinspoon Foundation where she works closely with the whole content team at PJ…
Siobhan Vivian is the New York Times best-selling author of eleven young adult novels, including Stay Sweet, The Last Boy and Girl in the World,…
Steve Light is an author and illustrator of children’s books and a storyteller. He grew up in an enchanted place known as New Jersey. He…
Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an award-winning author of picture books, novels, and nonfiction for children, including the Newbery Honor book Hitler Youth: Growing Up in…
Susan Kusel is the librarian at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia, the children’s book buyer and selector for [words] bookstore in Maplewood, New…
Special Guest Street magic performer. Hog-calling champion. Award-winning ice sculptor. These are all things Tara Lazar has never been. Instead, she writes quirky, humorous picture…
Special Guest Tiff Liao is an editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. She’s had the pleasure of editing authors such as Tomi Adeyemi,…
Tiffany D. Jackson is the author of the critically acclaimed, NAACP Image Award-nominated Allegedly, Monday’s Not Coming, and the forthcoming Let Me Hear a Rhyme…
Special Guest Tina Dubois is a literary agent at ICM Partners, specializing in middle grade and young adult fiction. Noteworthy titles include the New York…
Special Guest Tracey West has written more than 300 books for children, including the bestselling Dragon Masters series for Scholastic Branches. Some readers also know…
Traci Chee is the New York Times bestselling author of YA fantasy trilogy The Reader (2016),The Speaker (2017), and The Storyteller (2018). An all-around word…
Traci Sorell writes fiction and nonfiction books as well as poems for children. Her debut nonfiction picture book, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, features the universal…
Wiley has worked in publishing for almost 30 years. He has written several early readers, such as Max Has a Fish and A New Friend,…
Special Guest Yesenia Flores Díaz credits her parents and elementary school librarian for cultivating a love of reading. She won the 2016 Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize…
Yvonne Wakim Dennis is an award winning author of nonfiction books for children and adults including A Kid’s Guide to Native American History (Moonbeam Gold…
Special Guest Juana Martinez-Neal is the recipient of the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea (written by Susan M.…
Intimate and inspiring workshops for children's authors and illustrators.
