Donna Galanti wanted to be a writer ever since she attended an English school, housed in a magical castle, where her wild imagination was held back only by her itchy uniform (bowler hat and tie included!).

She is the author of middle-grade books with the Unicorn Island series, Joshua and the Lightning Road series, and Loon Cove Summer. She’s also the author of the paranormal suspense Element Trilogy for adults. She has lived in fun locations including England, her family-owned campground in New Hampshire, and in Hawaii where she served as a U.S. Navy photographer for Fleet Intelligence Pacific.

Donna is an avid outdoor adventurer and nature lover. She volunteers for the Old-Growth Forest Network and the National Audubon Society. When Donna’s not wandering the woods seeking magic and wonder, you can usually find her biking or kayaking.

For more information on her books, online courses, and events, visit her at: www.donnagalanti.com.

Kathy Akopov Guillory grew up in the USSR and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was nine years old. She struggled to make friends at a new school in an entirely new country and leaned on her grandma, Baba Emma, for support, which inspired her book The Adventures of Belle Bear. By day, she is a marketing consultant who lives in Maine with her husband, Chris; daughters, Emma and Eleanor; and their two dogs, Half Pint and Dr. Watson.

Learn more at https://bellebearbooks.com/

Mari Mancusi is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty sci-fi/fantasy books for kids, teens and adults and an Emmy award winning former TV news producer. Her series have been selected for major state reading lists as well as the Scholastic Book Fairs and have been honored by the American Library Association as “Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers." In addition to writing, Mari loves to travel, watch horror movies and play video games. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their teenage daughter.

Learn more at marimancusi.com

Lancelot Schaubert authored Bell Hammers, which Publisher’s Weekly called “a hoot.” He is a full voting member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association. He edits anthologies and journals; produces albums, films, graphic novels, picture books, and photo novels; raises funds, friends, and minds for artists.

Learn more at: https://lanceschaubert.org/

Shugri Salh is the author of the memoir The Last Nomad (Algonquin, 2021) and a supporting actor in the Apple TV+ “Little America” episode set in an immigrant Somali community.She was born in the desert of Somalia in 1974 and spent her early years living with her grandmother in the desert as a nomad. In 1992, after the civil war broke out in her home country, she emigrated to North America. She attended nursing school at Pacific Union college and graduated with honors.Shugri has been storytelling since she could talk. From her grandmother and the nomadic community in which she was raised, she heard stories and learned of their power to entertain, teach, and transform. When she isn’t writing or telling stories, she works as an infusion nurse. Shugri Salh lives in San Diego with her husband and three children.

Learn more at: https://www.shugrisalh.com/

Want an e-book copy of one of Mahtab's books? Fill out this Google Form! The first five responses will receive an e-book for free, curtesy of Mahtab Narsimhan: https://forms.gle/HRny4JvCbLMoZPrh9Mahtab Narsimhan is an award-winning author with numerous critically acclaimed books. She is inspired by life, love, and the desire to make sense of the world through stories.Learn more at: https://www.mahtabnarsimhan.com/

Rebecca E. F. Barone is an engineer who has worked on a diverse array of projects: injury analysis for the National Football League, knee mechanics during car crashes, development of gait biometrics, and engine calibration of hybrid cars. Realizing her love for books in addition to numbers, she now describes the world with words rather than equations. Her first book, Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica, is now available and has received four starred reviews. Her second book, Unbreakable: The Spies Who Cracked the Nazis’ Secret Code, about the Enigma cipher of WWII, launched October 25, 2022 to four starred reviews. Mountain of Fire: The Eruption and Survivors of Mount St. Helens, her third book, will be published Spring, 2024.

Learn more at https://rebeccaefbarone.com/

Traci Sorell is a best-selling author of inclusive, award-winning historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction in a variety of formats for young people.

She is a two-time Sibert Medal and Orbis Pictus honoree and award-winning audiobook narrator and producer. Eight of her books have received awards from the American Indian Library Association. Other accolades include Charlotte Huck Honor Award, Septima Clark Women in Literature Honor Award, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, International Literacy Association’s Social Justice Literature Award Winner, Reading The West’s Picture Book Winner, and many Best-of and Notables lists.

A former federal Indigenous law attorney and policy advocate, Traci is a Cherokee Nation citizen and first-generation college graduate. She lives within her tribe’s reservation in northeastern Oklahoma.

Learn more at: www.tracisorell.com