Faculty

Martha Brockenbrough writes fiction and nonfiction for young readers, with 25 published and forthcoming titles that include picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, YA novels, and nonfiction for every age range. Her work has appeared on many best-of lists, including Booklist, Kirkus, Bank Street, YALSA, Publishers Weekly, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble, and as Junior Library Guild Selections. Her novel The Game of Love and Death won the Washington State Book Award and was a finalist for...

Elana K. Arnold is the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of over thirty books, including National Book Award finalist WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF, Printz Honor winner DAMSEL, National Jewish Book Award winner and Sydney Taylor Book Award winner THE BLOOD YEARS, and global read-aloud A BOY CALLED BAT and its sequels. She lives in Long Beach, California.

Tracey Baptiste is the New York Times bestselling author of Minecraft: The Crash and the acclaimed middle grade fantasy trilogy The Jumbies. which are Junior Library Guild Selections and received multiple starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist. Angel’s Grace was named one of the 100 best books for reading and sharing. She has also written the middle grade nonfiction African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History, as well as the popular picture books: Because Claudette and Me...

Ann Dávila Cardinal's debut novel Five Midnights won the 2020 International Latino Book Award in the category of Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure, an AudioFile’s Earphones Award for the audiobook, and was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award. Category Five, also from Tor Teen was a 2021 finalist for the same International Latino Book Award category. She’s the author of the young adult horror novel, Breakup from Hell; Hispanic Star: Bad Bunny, the adult Puerto Rican magical realist mystery Th...

Erin Entrada Kelly has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, including the 2025 Newbery Medal for The First State of Being, 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, a 2021 Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, the 2023 NAIBA Book of the Year Award for Those Kids From Fawn Creek, and 2017 APALA Award for The Land of Forgotten Girls, among many other honors. She is also a National Book Award Finalist and author/illustrator of Marisol Rainey and Felix Powell, stand-alone stories for...

Candice Iloh is the award-winning author of young adult novels, Every Body Looking, Break This House, and Salt the Water. A 2020 National Book Award Finalist and 2021 Printz Honoree, Iloh is a first-generation Nigerian-American writer whose books center home. In 2018, they were awarded a Critical Breaks residency with Hi-ARTS to develop and perform a one-night-only stage production of ADA: On Stage, a multi-media one-person-show, introducing the audience to in-progress themes of their now...

A.S. King has been called “One of the best Y.A. writers working today” by the New York Times Book Review and is the only writer to have won the Michael L. Printz Award twice, for 2023’s The Collectors and for 2020’s Dig, which also won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. King is the author of other highly acclaimed novels including 2021’s SW/TCH, 2016’s Still Life with Tornado, 2015’s surrealist I Crawl Through It, Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, Reality Boy, the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book...

Michelle (Mikki) Knudsen is a Nebula Award–winning and New York Times best-selling author of more than 50 books for children and young adults, including Library Lion (Time magazine's 100 Best Children's Books of All Time), Into the Wild Magic (Andre Norton Nebula Award), The Dragon of Trelian (VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers), and Evil Librarian (YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults; Sid Fleischman Humor Award). Her books have won numerous state, bookseller, and other awards...

Michael Leali is an award-winning author of books like The Civil War of Amos Abernathy, which won SCBWI’s Golden Kite Award. His work has been twice nominated for Lambda Literary Awards. He is a veteran high school English teacher, seasoned writing coach, and is currently a We Need Diverse Books mentor, among serving for other mentorship programs. He holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He currently lives in Oakland, CA.

David Macinnis Gill is the award-winning author of Soul Enchilada, Black Hole Sun, Invisible Sun, Shadow on the Sun, Rising Sun, Uncanny, and Zombie Train from HarperCollins/Greenwillow. He’s the author of The Sticky Note Plot, a craft guide for novelists. David’s books have been named ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Kirkus Best Book, a Bank Street College Best Books of the Year, and an NYPL Stuff for the Teen Age as well as nominated for many state and regional lists and awards. His short...

An Na is the author of A Step from Heaven, Wait for Me, The Fold, and The Place Between Breaths. Her awards include: the Michael L. Printz Award, International Reading Association Award, National Book Award Finalist, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Parents Choice Gold Award and New York Times Review Notable. She was on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA program in writing for children and young adults.

Erica S. Perl (she/her) is the author of more than 50 books for young people. She’s also co-written books with Dolly Parton and R.J. Palacio. Erica’s books have received awards including the National Jewish Book Award, three Sydney Taylor medals (one silver, two bronze), and the Chickadee Award, Maine’s state picture book award. Erica writes picture books, early readers, chapter books, and middle grade novels. Erica has received fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the D.C...

ELIOT SCHREFER is a New York Times-bestselling author, has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, received the Stonewall Honor for best LGBTQIA+ teen book, and received the Printz Honor for best young adult book from the ALA. In naming him an Editor’s Choice, the New York Times has called his work “dazzling… big-hearted.” His science writing has appeared in Discover, Sierra, USAToday, Nautilus, and The Washington Post Magazine. He has an M.A. in Animal...

Eugene Yelchin is a painter, designer, and a writer and illustrator of books for young readers. His many accolades include a National Jewish Book Award, a Newbery Honor, National Book Award Finalist, a Sydney Taylor Award, Golden and Crystal Kite Awards, and Tomie DePaola Award. His books have been included in Best Books of the Year lists by the New York Times, People Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today among others, and have been translated into fourteen languages...