Jed Alexander is the author and illustrator of The Fairy-Tale Color Collection, a series of wordless retellings of classic fairytales for children—including Red and Gold, which have garnered starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly and praise from the New York Times. He has also written and illustrated for SpongeBob Comics and Cricket magazine. Jed lives in California with his wife, best friend, and favorite person in the world, Regina.

Visit him at jedalexander.com.

Lance Rubin is the NY Times best-selling author of young adult and middle grade novels, including Denton Little’s Deathdate, Crying Laughing, and The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek (co-written with Rhett and Link of Good Mythical Morning). He was an ABA Indies Introduce pick for Denton Little’s Deathdate, which was the ILA YA book of the year in 2016. His books have also been Junior Library Guild selections, Amazon Books of the Month, and made many state reading lists.

Find out more at https://www.lancerubin.com/

Jeff Gottesfeld is an acclaimed writer for page, stage, and screen. His work has won awards from the American Library Association, the Writers Guild of America, and the National Council for the Social Studies. He is based in Los Angeles, California.

Visit him at jeffgottesfeldwrites.com.

Two-time Nebula Award-winner Fran Wilde has (so far) published nine novels, a poetry collection, and over 70 short stories for adults, teens, and kids. Her stories have been finalists for six Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award, four Hugo Awards, four Locus Awards, and a Lodestar. They include her Nebula- and Compton Crook-winning debut novel Updraft, and her Nebula-winning, Best of NPR 2019, debut Middle Grade novel Riverland. Her short stories appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Nature, Uncanny Magazine, and multiple years' best anthologies.

The Managing Editor for The Sunday Morning Transport, Fran teaches or has taught for schools including Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and Tor.com.

You can find her on Instagram, Bluesky, and at franwilde.net.

Chris Baron is the award winning author of novels for young (and young at heart) readers including:

• All Of Me, an NCTE Notable Book

• The Magical Imperfect, a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book/SLJ Best Book of 2021

• The Gray (23) a ProjectLIT 23-24 Selection

• Spark (25) from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan

• The Secret of the Dragon Gems, a Middle Grade novel co-authored with Rajani LaRocca from Little Bee Books (23)

He is also the editor of On All Other Nights: A Middle Grade Passover Anthology from Abrams (24).

He is a Professor of English at San Diego City College and the director of the Writing Center. He grew up in New York City, but he completed his MFA in Poetry in 1998 at SDSU. He lives in San Diego with his family.

He is represented by Rena Rossner from the Deborah Harris Literary Agency.

Twitter: @baronchrisbaronInstagram: @christhebearbaron

Learn more at: www.chris-baron.com

Nate Moeller lives in Freeland, Michigan, with his amazing wife, Jennifer, and their two beautiful children, Sadie and Sam. The inspiration for his book Twinkling Wings and Toothy Things came from his daughter Sadie losing one of her teeth. When he isn’t working, Nate enjoys spending time with his family and enjoying the outdoors.

Nathalie Laine lives a safe distance away from the ocean, in Paris, France.

She enjoys: poking her finger into the mini whirlpools that form above bath drains, randomly understanding words in a language she doesn’t know, wrongly guessing the double-agent in cold war spy stories, sharing a Turkish meal of “Lion’s milk”, fish and turnip juice with friends, and getting spurned by grumpy cats.

She may have snuck some of the above into Alessia in Atlantis.

Tomeko Brown is the author of AN INSTRUMENT FOR FLORENDA.

Tomeko is a North Carolina native with a lifelong passion for writing, music, and education. She began her creative journey by playing the clarinet as a child, which sparked her love for the arts.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Education from East Carolina University. She also earned a Master of Education in Instructional Design and Technology from West Texas A&M University. Her graduate research focused on using technology to enhance and support student learning.

Tomeko has worked in K–5 classrooms and holds a Certificate in Early Childhood Services. She is also a member of Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Her work blends creativity, education, and a love for helping young minds thrive.

Find out more about Tomeko at www.tomekobrown.com