Guest Authors

Previous Guest Authors:

Katherine Applegate

is the Newbery Medal-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of numerous books for young readers, including The One and Only Ivan, the Endling series, Crenshaw, Wishtree, the Roscoe Riley Rules chapter books series, and the Animorphs series. For more information, please visit katherineapplegate.com

Gennifer Choldenko

is best known for her Tales from Alcatraz series, which has sold more than 2 million copies. Book #1: Al Capone Does My Shirts was a Newbery Honor Book and the recipient of twenty other awards. Book #4: Al Capone Throws Me a Curve is due out in 2018. BookPage said of her most recent novel, Chasing Secrets: “Choldenko’s ability to research obscure yet intriguing topics is uncanny, and as she did with the popular Al Capone trilogy she turns a tough topic into a high interest read … a compelling work of historical fiction.” For more information, please visit https://m.gennifercholdenko.com/index.html

Barbara Dee

is the author of twelve middle grade novels published by Simon & Schuster, including Violets Are Blue, My Life in the Fish Tank, Maybe He Just Likes You, Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed. Her books have earned several starred reviews and have been named to many best-of lists, including the The Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books, the ALA Notable Children’s Books, the ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, the NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, and the ALA Rainbow List Top Ten. For more information, please visit https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Barbara-Dee/32807723

Amanda Conran

When she is not writing her own children's books or working as a freelance editor, she is a children's book specialist, school book fair booktalker and children’s book club facilitator at the renowned Bay Area independent bookstore, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA. The Lost Celt is her first middle grade novel. A modern adventure story, it draws upon time-travel conspiracies, Roman and Celtic history and the stories of Irish warrior hero Cuchulain, but ultimately deals with the invisible effects of war on veterans and their families throughout the generations and the transcendent power of friendship. For more information, please visit www.aeconran.com

Andrew Aydin

is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a National Book Award winner, a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Honoree, a Printz Award winner, a Sibert Medal winner, a Walter Dean Myers Award winner, a two-time Eisner award winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. For more information, please visit www.andrewaydin.com

Hatem Aly

has illustrated many books for young people that earned multiple starred reviews and positions on the NYT bestsellers including THE PROUDEST BLUE with Ibtihaj Muhammad & S.K . Ali, IN MY MOSQUE with M.O. Yuksel, the Newbery Honor winner THE INQUISITOR’S TALE by Adam Gidwitz, THE UNICORN RESCUE SOCIETY series also by Adam Gidwitz with several amazing co-authors, MEET YASMIN with Saadia Faruqi, RAJ's RULE (FOR THE BATHROOM AT SCHOOL) with Lana Button, and HOW TO FEED YOUR PARENTS by Ryan Miller. He has more upcoming books and projects in the works. For more information, you can find him online @metahatem. www.metahatem.com

Sarah Kapit

earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and she’s always happy to talk about the history of women, medicine, and any other history geek topic. She has a longstanding involvement in the disability rights and neurodiversity movements, and serves as chairperson of the Association for Autistic Community. Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen is her first novel.

Linda Sue Park

is the author of many books for young readers, including the 2002 Newbery Medal winner A Single Shard and the New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water. Her most recent titles are Prairie Lotus, historical fiction for middle-grade readers, and The One Thing You'd Save, a novel in verse. You can find her website at www.lindasuepark.com

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of Newbery Honor awards for The War That Saved My Life and Fighting Words.

Janet Wong

is a graduate of Yale Law School and a former lawyer who switched careers to become a children's author. She is the author of more than 35 books for children and teens on a wide variety of subjects, including identity (A Suitcase of Seaweed & MORE) and racism (Good Luck Gold & MORE)-and is the winner of the 2021 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, a lifetime achievement award that is one of the highest honors an American children's poet can receive. You can learn about her work at janetwong.com and pomelobooks.com.

Remy Lai

writes and draws stories for kids. She's the author and illustrator of the critically acclaimed PIE IN THE SKY, and FLY ON THE WALL. Her latest book is the middle grade graphic novel PAWCASSO, and her early reader graphic novel series (SURVIVING THE WILD) will be published in April 2022.

Sarah Prager

is the author of three books on LGBTQ+ history for youth. Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World (HarperCollins, 2017), a young adult book, has received numerous distinctions including three starred reviews and was named a 2017 Best Book for Teens by the New York Public Library. Her second book, Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History, released in May 2020 from HarperCollins for ages 8-12, is a Junior Library Guild selection. Her third book, Kind Like Marsha: Learning from LGBTQ+ Leaders, will be released on May 3, 2022.

Laekan Zea Kemp

is a writer living in Austin, Texas. She's also the creator and host of the Author Pep Talks podcast, as well as a contributor to the Las Musas podcast. She has three objectives when it comes to storytelling: to make people laugh, cry, and crave Mexican food. Her work celebrates Chicane grit, resilience, creativity, and joy while exploring themes of identity and mental health. Her debut novel, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN BITTER & SWEET was released by Little Brown Young Readers on April 6th, 2021.

Kosoko Jackson

is a vocal champion of diversity in YA literature, the author of YA novels featuring African American queer protagonists, and a sensitivity reader for Big Five Publishers. For more information please visit https://kosokojackson.com/

Jake Maia Arlow

is a podcast producer, writer, and bagel connoisseur. She studied evolutionary biology and creative writing (not as different as you might think) at Barnard College. She has lived in various places, but can always be found with an iced coffee. For more information, please visit jakewhosagirl.com

WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series—often called “The new Nancy Drew”—and wrote Flipped, which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by School Library Journal and became a Warner Brothers feature film, with Rob Reiner directing.

For more information, please visit wendelinvand.com.

JENNIFER NIELSEN

New York Times Bestselling author, Jennifer Nielsen, was born and raised in northern Utah, where she still lives today with her family, a dog that won’t play fetch, and a cat that hallucinates. She is the author of The Ascendance series, beginning with THE FALSE PRINCE; the TRAITOR’S GAME series, the historical novels, RESISTANCE, A NIGHT DIVIDED, WORDS ON FIRE, RESCUE, and several other titles. For more information, please visit jennielsen.com

REX OGLE

is an award-winning author and the writer of nearly a hundred children’s books, comics, graphic novels, and memoirs—most notably Free Lunch, which won the ALA/YALSA award for Excellence in Non-Fiction. For more information, please visit rexogle.com

KOSOKO JACKSON

JEFF ZENTNER

is the author of New York Times Notable Books The Serpent King and In the Wild Light, as well as Goodbye Days and Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee. Among other honors, he has won the ALA’s William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award twice, the Muriel Becker Award, the International Literacy Association Award, and been longlisted twice for the Carnegie Medal. He’s a two-time Southern Book Prize finalist; and was a finalist for the Indies Choice Award. He was selected as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and an Indies Introduce pick. His books have been translated into fifteen languages. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. He lives in Nashville.

For more information, please visit jeffzentnerbooks.com.