Claire Forrest
Claire Forrest is a novelist and essayist who holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Where You See Yourself is based on her lived experience as a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. As an undergraduate at Grinnell College, she was a consultant for the Disability Services and Admissions offices, working directly to address the concerns of incoming college students with disabilities and their families.
She lives in Minneapolis, where when she’s not writing, she spends her time swimming and planning where to travel next. Find out more about her on Instagram and Twitter at @claire4est.
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Bryan Bliss
Bryan Bliss is the author of No Parking at the End Times, Meet Me Here, and We’ll Fly Away, which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award. He lives in Saint Paul, MN with his family.
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You can visit him online at www.bryanbliss.com and on Facebook and Twitter. -
Asphyxia
Asphyxia is an artist, writer and public speaker. Author of the much-loved junior fiction series the Grimstones, Asphyxia has also been a circus performer and puppeteer. An avid art-journal creator, she loves to share her process and help others benefit from this amazing tool for self-expression, problem-solving, planning, goal-tracking and self-esteem.
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Deaf since the age of three, Asphyxia learnt to sign when she was eighteen, which changed her life. She is now a Deaf activist, sharing details of Deaf experience. She raises awareness of oppression of Deaf people and what we can do to change this. Her free online Auslan course (www.asphyxia.com.au) has had over 15,000 students.
Asphyxia is kept busy with her small farm where she combines fo -
T.L. Simpson
T.L. Simpson is an award-winning journalist and novelist living in Arkansas. He is currently the editor of his hometown paper. His fiction draws from his experiences growing up in the Ozarks, covering both sports and crime. Simpson lives in the Arkansas River Valley, between the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains with his wife and four children.
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Nora Shalaway Carpenter
Nora Shalaway Carpenter's novels and anthologies have been named "Best of the Year" by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Bank Street Books, and A Mighty Girl, and have won accolades including the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, the Whippoorwill Award for authentic rural fiction, and the Nautilus Award championing "better books for a better world." She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and serves as faculty for the Highlights Foundation's Whole Novel Workshop and Intro to Short Fiction class. Learn more at noracarpenterwrites.com.
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Lamar Giles
Lamar "L. R." Giles writes books for teens and adults. FAKE ID, his debut Young Adult Thriller, will be published by HarperCollins in 2014. He is represented by Jamie Weiss Chilton of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and resides in Chesapeake, VA with his wife.
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Jennifer Brown
Two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award (2005 & 2006), Jennifer's weekly humor column appeared in The Kansas City Star for over four years, until she gave it up to be a full-time young adult novelist.
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Jennifer's debut novel, HATE LIST (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009) received three starred reviews and was selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA "Perfect Ten," and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. HATE LIST also won the Michigan Library Association's Thumbs Up! Award, the Louisiana Teen Readers Choice award, the 2012 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award, was an honorable mention for the 2011 Arkansas Teen Book Award, is a YALSA 2012 Popular Paperback, received spots on the Texas Library Associa -
Anna Sortino
Anna Sortino is the award-winning author of On the Bright Side and Give Me a Sign. She writes stories about disabled characters living their lives and falling in love. Find more at AnnaSortino.com.
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Elana K. Arnold
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ELANA K. ARNOLD writes books for and about children and teens. She holds a master’s degree in Creative Writing/Fiction from the University of California, Davis where she has taught Creative Writing and Adolescent Literature. Her most recent YA novel, DAMSEL, is a Printz Honor book, Her 2017 novel, WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her middle grade novel, A BOY CALLED BAT, is a Junior Library Guild Selection. A parent and educator living in Huntington Beach, California, Elana is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries, and writers’ conferences. Currently, Elana is the caretaker of seven pets, only three of which have fur. Sign up for her newsletter here: https://elanakarnold.us10.list-manage... -
Justin A. Reynolds
justin a. reynolds has always wanted to be a writer. The earliest documentation of this desire was recorded on a sheet of green, learn-how-to-write-with-a-jumbo-pencil ruled kindergarten paper, which can be found prominently displayed in his mom’s office. OPPOSITE OF ALWAYS, his debut novel, was an Indies Introduce Top Ten Debut, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2019, translated in 17 languages, and is being developed for film with Paramount Players. He hangs out in northeast Ohio with his family, and is probably somewhere dancing terribly, or as his sister likes to say "doing the sports". His second novel EARLY DEPARTURES will publish in September 2020.
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It's far more likely you can reach justin via Twitter (@andthisjustin) IG (@justin -
Kelly McWilliams
Kelly is the mixed-race author of AGNES AT THE END OF THE WORLD (2020), MIRROR GIRLS (2022), and YOUR PLANTATION PROM IS NOT OKAY (2023). AGNES was a finalist for the Golden Kite Award. She's also written for Time, Publisher's Weekly, and Bustle, among other outlets. She lives in Seattle with her family.
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Jorge Aguirre
Jorge A. Aguirre is an East Coast-based writer born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He wrote the graphic novel, GIANTS BEWARE (First Second Books/Macmillan), which the New York Times called, a "rollicking fun story." He also wrote its sequel, DRAGONS BEWARE (May 2015). He has already written the third book of the CHRONICLES OF CLAUDETTE. Besides books, Jorge also produces and writes TV for kids. He's worked for Disney, Junior, Nick, Jr., and PBS.
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Shane Burcaw
Shane Burcaw grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and graduated from Moravian College with an English degree. He is the author of several award-winning books about disability. He is the President of a nonprofit organization called Laughing At My Nightmare, Inc. and a renowned public speaker who has performed across the country from universities to elementary schools to Fortune 500 companies. On his YouTube channel, Squirmy and Grubs, which has gained 1,000,000+ subscribers and worldwide media attention, he and his wife, Hannah, share a hilarious and authentic examination of what it’s like to be in an interabled relationship. They live in Minneapolis, MN with their fluffy labradoodle, Chloe.
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Carolina Ixta
Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, she received her B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and obtained her Master's degree in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently an elementary school teacher whose pedagogy centers critical race theory at the primary education level. Shut Up, This is Serious is her debut novel.
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Josh Galarza
Josh Galarza writes fiction and creative nonfiction and is a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking, book arts, and sculpture. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky, was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University, a BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a BA in English from the University of Nevada, Reno. He lives in Northern Nevada and is the three-time reigning world champion of extreme trampoline air-drumming, a sport he invented himself.
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Ambika Vohra
Hi, I’m Ambi and author of YA novel The Sticky Note Manifesto of Aisha Agarwal, by Quill Tree Books (Harper Collins). If you’d like to get the occasional update on what I’m up to, you can go to my website and subscribe to my newsletter or follow me at @ambiwritesbooks on Instagram!
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I’m going to try not to spend too much time here apart from answering reader questions or posting updates, but I probably will end up lurking at times to read some reviews and memorize them word-for-word and it’s going to be so healthy and wonderful…*coughs*
For a bit about me, I grew up in Michigan in a small town full of corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and freezing winters. After graduating from college, I moved out to sunny California and have been here ever since -
T.L. Simpson
T.L. Simpson is an award-winning journalist and novelist living in Arkansas. He is currently the editor of his hometown paper. His fiction draws from his experiences growing up in the Ozarks, covering both sports and crime. Simpson lives in the Arkansas River Valley, between the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains with his wife and four children.
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Anna Sortino
Anna Sortino is the award-winning author of On the Bright Side and Give Me a Sign. She writes stories about disabled characters living their lives and falling in love. Find more at AnnaSortino.com.
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Shannon C.F. Rogers
Shannon C.F. Rogers is a multiracial American writer of Filipinx and European descent. Her debut novel, I'D RATHER BURN THAN BLOOM, received the 2024 APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature.
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A former editor on Lunch Ticket, her work has appeared in Bodega Magazine and Newfound Journal as well as on stage with Tricklock Company, Lady Luck Productions, and the UNM Words Afire Festival of New Plays.
Shannon earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in Writing For Young People at Antioch University Los Angeles. She has served as an educator, after-school program director, and lost mitten finder at schools in Albuquerque, Chicago, and New York City. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. -
Jade Adia
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jade Adia writes stories about Black nerds, anti-capitalism, and home. She is an English teacher at a middle and high school where her students graciously keep her grounded. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Ethnicity, Race & Migration as well as a law degree with a specialization in Critical Race Studies. Her debut novel, There Goes The Neighborhood, won the 2024 Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Her other novels include Our Shouts Echo and Batgirl: Possession.
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Mazey Eddings
Mazey Eddings is a bestselling author, dentist, and (most importantly) stage mom to her cats, Yaya and Zadie. She can most often be found reading romance novels under her weighted blanket and asking her husband to bring her snacks. She's made it her personal mission in life to destigmatize mental health issues and write love stories for every brain. With roots in Ohio and Philadelphia, she now calls North Carolina home.
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Bethany Mangle
Bethany Mangle is the author of the young adult contemporary novels PREPPED and ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. Her third book, CONDITIONS OF A HEART, is forthcoming in February 2024. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spoiling her dog, playing video games, and spending time with her unbearably nerdy husband. She moves too much to put a location in her bio ever again.
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Bethany is represented by Jennifer Wills and Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
Note:
I don't add readers as friends on Goodreads because of Amazon's policy on reviews. Please follow me instead. I'm also active on Twitter and Instagram @bethanymangle. Thanks for your understanding! -
Amelia Diane Coombs
Amelia Diane Coombs is the author of Keep My Heart in San Francisco; Between You, Me, and the Honeybees; Exactly Where You Need to Be; and All Alone With You. She’s a Northern California transplant living in Seattle, Washington, with her spouse and their Siberian cat. When she isn’t writing or reading, Amelia spends her time playing video and tabletop games, road-tripping, and hiking the Pacific Northwest.
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Hannah V. Sawyerr
Hannah V. Sawyerr was recognized as the Youth Poet Laureate of Baltimore in 2016. Her debut novel in verse All the Fighting Parts was a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, a Rise Feminist Book Project Top Ten Title, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, and an ABA Indies Introduce/Indie Next Pick. Her spoken word has been featured on the BBC’s World Have Your Say program as well as the National Education Association’s “Do You Hear Us?” campaign. Her written word has been included in Essence, xoNecole, and gal-dem.
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Sawyerr holds a BA in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Her sophomore novel in verse Truth Is (Abrams/Amulet) is slated for release on -
Mariama J. Lockington
Mariama J. Lockington is an adoptee, author, and educator. She has been telling stories and making her own books since the second grade, when she wore shortalls and flower leggings every day to school. Mariama’s middle-grade debut, For Black Girls Like Me, earned five starred reviews and was a Today Show Best Kids’ Book of 2019. Her sophomore middle-grade book, In The Key of Us, is a Stonewall Honor Award book and was featured in the New York Times. Her debut young adult novel, Forever is Now, is the 2024 winner of the Schneider Family Book Award. Mariama holds a Masters in Education from Lesley University and a Masters in Fine Arts in Poetry from San Francisco State University, she calls many places home, but currently lives in Kentucky wi
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Olivia A. Cole
Olivia Cole is an author and blogger from Louisville, Kentucky. She spent eight years in Chicago and two in South Florida before finding her way back home. She is the author of PANTHER IN THE HIVE and its sequel, THE ROOSTER’S GARDEN, as well as her latest young adult series, A CONSPIRACY OF STARS and its sequel AN ANATOMY OF BEASTS. She is on the Creative Writing faculty at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts and is the founder of the sci-fi art show for young Kentucky women, KINDRED: MAKING SPACE IN SPACE.
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Maya Van Wagenen
Maya Van Wagenen lives in the Atlanta area with her fiancée, three cats, and a dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys quilting, knitting, costume design, reading, and binge-watching detective procedural dramas.
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At fifteen, Maya became a New York Times bestselling author after Penguin Dutton published her eighth-grade journal—Popular. The book went on to win the American Library Association’s YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction, making her the youngest author and first memoirist to receive this honor. Maya’s second book and first novel, Chronically Dolores, is inspired by her experiences as a young person with an incurable bladder condition. Maya is passionate about bringing visibility to youth with chronic illness and validating the qu -
Jordan Sonnenblick
I am the author of seven books for children and young adults, including Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie. So if youʼre looking for info about some other guy named Jordan Sonnenblick, youʼve got the wrong website.
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Anyway, I know a lot of people are looking for stuff they can use in reports for school, so Iʼll just get this out of the way right up front:
My favorite color is blue.
I have a wife and two kids.
The best pet I ever had was a garter snake I caught when I was eight by a lake in Pennsylvania. I named the snake Hector. Then it gave birth to 20 baby snakes, so I changed its name to Hectoria.
My all-time favorite band is the Beatles, although I like a ton of different music.
My hobbies are playing the drums, guitar, and bass; riding my bicycle a -
Natasha Friend
Natasha Friend is the award-winning author of Perfect, Lush, Bounce, For Keeps, My Life in Black and White, Where You'll Find Me, The Other F-Word, How We Roll, and The Wolves Are Waiting. Natasha lives on the Connecticut shoreline with her family.
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Lila Riesen
LILA RIESEN is the author of Rainsong (2026) and Free Radicals (2023), which Publishers Weekly called “an emphatic and empathetic debut.” The daughter of Afghan and Australian immigrants, she lives in Irvine, California with her husband and son.
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https://www.lilariesen.com/ -
Shannon C.F. Rogers
Shannon C.F. Rogers is a multiracial American writer of Filipinx and European descent. Her debut novel, I'D RATHER BURN THAN BLOOM, received the 2024 APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature.
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A former editor on Lunch Ticket, her work has appeared in Bodega Magazine and Newfound Journal as well as on stage with Tricklock Company, Lady Luck Productions, and the UNM Words Afire Festival of New Plays.
Shannon earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in Writing For Young People at Antioch University Los Angeles. She has served as an educator, after-school program director, and lost mitten finder at schools in Albuquerque, Chicago, and New York City. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. -
Jade Adia
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jade Adia writes stories about Black nerds, anti-capitalism, and home. She is an English teacher at a middle and high school where her students graciously keep her grounded. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Ethnicity, Race & Migration as well as a law degree with a specialization in Critical Race Studies. Her debut novel, There Goes The Neighborhood, won the 2024 Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Her other novels include Our Shouts Echo and Batgirl: Possession.
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Bryan Bliss
Bryan Bliss is the author of No Parking at the End Times, Meet Me Here, and We’ll Fly Away, which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award. He lives in Saint Paul, MN with his family.
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You can visit him online at www.bryanbliss.com and on Facebook and Twitter. -
Ream Shukairy
Ream Shukairy is a Syrian American Muslim born and raised full-time in Orange County, California and part-time over summers in Syria. Whether in California or Syria, she feels at home where her family is and wherever there’s a beach. She has a talent for learning languages and is always on the search for the next place she can travel and flex her words. The daughter of immigrants, there isn’t a stereotype she won’t try her hardest to defy. She can be found reading at the beach, with her sisters watching anime, or playing volleyball really anywhere. She currently resides in Boston for graduate school.
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Brandy Colbert
Brandy Colbert was born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks. She lives and writes in Los Angeles.
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Bethany Mangle
Bethany Mangle is the author of the young adult contemporary novels PREPPED and ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. Her third book, CONDITIONS OF A HEART, is forthcoming in February 2024. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spoiling her dog, playing video games, and spending time with her unbearably nerdy husband. She moves too much to put a location in her bio ever again.
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Bethany is represented by Jennifer Wills and Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
Note:
I don't add readers as friends on Goodreads because of Amazon's policy on reviews. Please follow me instead. I'm also active on Twitter and Instagram @bethanymangle. Thanks for your understanding! -
Sajni Patel
Sajni Patel is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and young adult books. Her works have appeared on numerous Best of the Year and Must Read lists from Cosmo, Teen Vogue, Apple Books, Audiofile, Tribeza, Austin Woman, NBC, The Insider, and many others.
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Jen Doll
Jen Doll has written for The Atlantic, The Atlantic Wire, Cosmopolitan, The Hairpin, New York magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Toast, Topic, Vice, The Village Voice, and The Week, among others. She grew up in Alabama and lives in Brooklyn and upstate New York.
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Mariama J. Lockington
Mariama J. Lockington is an adoptee, author, and educator. She has been telling stories and making her own books since the second grade, when she wore shortalls and flower leggings every day to school. Mariama’s middle-grade debut, For Black Girls Like Me, earned five starred reviews and was a Today Show Best Kids’ Book of 2019. Her sophomore middle-grade book, In The Key of Us, is a Stonewall Honor Award book and was featured in the New York Times. Her debut young adult novel, Forever is Now, is the 2024 winner of the Schneider Family Book Award. Mariama holds a Masters in Education from Lesley University and a Masters in Fine Arts in Poetry from San Francisco State University, she calls many places home, but currently lives in Kentucky wi
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Lizzy Mason
Lizzy Mason grew up in northern Virginia before moving to New York City for college and a career in publishing. Now back in Virginia with her two cats, when not reading or writing, Lizzy loves to travel. She has visited forty-five states and eleven countries so far. She is the author of The Art of Losing, Between the Bliss and Me, and Remind Me to Hate You Later. Find her online at LizzyMasonBooks.com and on Instagram at @LizzyMasonBooks.
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Kati Gardner
Kati is a recovering actor who has spent the last few years keeping tiny humans alive. In high school she was determined to play a doctor on General Hospital and possibly add in a love story with Jonathan Jackson. She would spend hours toiling away on FanFiction for my AOL community and dreaming of the day she would accept a Daytime Emmy Award. In college she majored in Theater arts and spent lots of time hanging out in the box office.
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Before any of that happened though, Kati had cancer. She was eight. She responded to chemotherapy and had an amputation of her entire left leg. She still advocates for childhood cancer research and accessibility for all individual with disabilities.
Kati is married, has two great girls, and a posse of furry fr -
Laura Harvey
Laura Harvey is an editor, writer, bibliophile, horsewoman, historian, teacher, debate coach, nerd, DIY junkie, and occasional rescuer of kittens. She holds a BA, MA, and is ABD, making her an exceptional asset in Trivial Pursuit. She loves reading so much that all of her handbags share one crucial ability: fitting a standard paperback or Kindle. She lives in northern California with a menagerie of beasts (dogs, cats, horses, and family members).
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Deborah Crossland
Deborah Crossland (she/her) teaches English and mythology at her local community college and writes myth-based, contemporary novels with a feminist bent for young adults. She is passionate about making education accessible for everyone and makes sure her students pay nothing out of pocket. She lives in Northern California with her husband and her daughter's very spoiled, retired service dog.
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Jamie Jo Hoang
Jamie Jo Hoang is the award author of BLUE SUN, YELLOW SKY. Her driver's license says she lives in Los Angeles, but she tries to escape to foreign lands as often as possible. She is a writer, thinker, explorer, lover of tea, certified advanced diver, and never far from an ocean. She blogs about her life and travels at: www.heyjamie.com. Tweets at: @heyjamie. And posts pretty pictures on Instagram as @heyjamiejo. So far she's visited Peru, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Uruguay, Chile, Bonaire, France, England, Jamaica, Ireland, Scotland, and numerous other cities within America.
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Dessa
Dessa is a rapper, singer, and essayist who earns her living on the road. She’s performed around the world at opera houses, rock clubs, and sometimes standing on barroom tables. Her imaginative writing and ferocious stage presence have been praised by NPR, Forbes, Billboard, the Chicago Tribune, and the LA Times. As a musician, she’s landed on the Billboard Top 200 as a solo artist; a member of the Doomtree collective; and as a contributor to The Hamilton Mixtape. She’s been published by the New York Times Magazine, MPR, the Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, literary journals across the country, and has written two short collections of poetry and essays. She splits her time between Manhattan, Minneapolis, and a tour van cruising at six miles
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Tash McAdam
Tash is a Welsh-Canadian author, activist and educator. Their publications include The Psionics (Nine Star Press), and the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections Blood Sport and Sink or Swim (Orca Books). They are also featured in multiple anthologies. Tash is a recipient of the Shoot for the Moon fund for trans writers, and a founding mentor with the Gender Generations Project.
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When they’re not writing or reading you can probably find Tash in a lake, lying on the carpet thinking about monsters, or getting a new tattoo. They enjoy regular cups of tea, existential philosophy, and sharp objects. -
Jessica Verdi
Jessica Verdi lives in Brooklyn, NY, and received her MFA in Writing for Children from The New School. She loves seltzer, Tabasco sauce, TV, vegetarian soup, flip-flops, and her dogs. Visit her at jessicaverdi.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @jessverdi.
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