Derick Brooks (he/him) is an award-winning cartoonist from Virginia. He loves to create genre bending illustration and comic art that mixes adventure, fantasy, and sci-fi themes with a slice of life. His published work can be found in A is for Alfie (Macmillan), Drawn to Change the World (HarperCollins), Hey You (Puffin), The Last Chance for Logan County (Versify), Allies (DK), and ten books from the Bright Family universe (Epic). When he’s not writing, doodling, or stopping his pets from wrestling, he serves as the art director for Magpie Literacy where he assists in the creation of decodable texts for grades PK-8+.

Humera Malik is a teacher-turned-children’s author of Muslim faith and Pakistani roots. She enjoys bringing to life characters that celebrate South Asian heritage and culture, through stories that are relatable to any child. Humera loves to travel and has lived in the US, UK, India, Jordan, and Kuwait. She currently resides in Azerbaijan with her husband and three young children. When she isn’t writing, Humera can be found running, reading, or drinking coffee. Lots of coffee.

In addition to short fiction, Laura Williams McCaffrey has written three fantasy novels for young people: Marked, Water Shaper (NYPL Books for the Teen Age list), and Alia Waking (an IRA Notable Book and a Teens' Top Ten Books nominee).

She works in her little witch’s tower, a small corner room in her Vermont house in the woods. Her dog and cat sleepily stand guard with one eye half-open for ghost and fairy visitors.

Claudia Schmidhuber writes about real life in her job as a journalist and about all things magical as an author. She has a master's degree in English Literature from LMU and lives in Germany with several miraculously alive succulents.

Jared Andrew Schorr is an illustrator living in Southern California. He specializes in creating detailed work entirely from cut paper. His work has appeared in many publications, as well as in galleries and homes around the world. Jared is the illustrator of Better Together (Abrams Appleseed, 2017) and Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights (Simon & Schuster, 2018)

Shäna Hartmann, Michelle Nixon Stanton, and Trené McCormick make up the New Orleans creative firm Seventeen18 LLC, which specializes in grassroots outreach to diverse local communities as well as organizational support, general communications, and marketing for Black-owned businesses and nonprofits

Growing up in California as the grandchild of Mexican immigrants, Jaclyn developed a deep appreciation for the ways language, culture, and identity interact. She’s drawn to word play and, much like her favorite books, she is a little silly. Jaclyn is a teacher and mentor in the University Writing Program at UC Riverside. Currently, she is also completing her EdD in Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University. She lives in sunny Southern California with her husband and their two multicultural kiddos.

Ashley Wong is a Canadian illustrator who enjoys making warm and textural images with embroidery floss. Her work draws inspiration from delicious meals with loved ones and the changing of seasons. Her portfolio can be found at ashlwong.com.

Robin Yardi lives in the California foothills, where—every once in a while, in the dark of night—a skunk or two will sneak by and an owl will hoot. She loves good stories, odd animals, homemade cakes, and kids.

An elementary school teacher and museum docent turned author and presenter, Robin teaches kids in classrooms, libraries, and museums about our extraordinary world and what it means to find your place in it through reading and writing.

Jade Zhang is a queer Chinese-Canadian illustrator and comic artist based in Toronto. She tells stories about magic, memory, and the occasional eldritch horror. Jade is the illustrator for Ghost Circus (Union Square Kids 2025) and author of “How to Survive a Haunting,” a horror short about a family that becomes its own monsters published in the Ignatz award-winning Shades of Fear anthology. She also wrote and illustrated “I’m Stuck in Retrograde,” an autobiographical fabulism comic about a staircase that brings a traveler’s memories to life around them. Jade is available for comic/GN illustration, covers, and spot art.