Tony Medina is a poet, graphic novelist, editor, short story writer, and young adult and children’s book author. Born in the South Bronx and raised in the Throgs Neck Housing Projects, Medina earned a BA in English at Baruch College, CUNY, on the GI Bill, and an MA and PhD at Binghamton University, SUNY, where he received the Distinguished Dissertation Award. Medina has published 24 multigenre award-winning books for adults and young readers, the most recent of which are Che Che Colé (fiction); Death, With Occasional Smiling (poetry); Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy(children’s); I Am Alfonso Jones (graphic novel); Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky (anthology), and the poetry chapbook Breathing in the Ruins (Floodgate/Stay Thirsty 2022). Medina’s awards include the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People (twice), the Langston Hughes Society Award, the first African Voices Literary Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award honor, Special Recognition from the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award, and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award from the American Booksellers Association for In Defense of Mumia. His most recent book, Death, With Occasional Smiling (Indolent Books,) was a finalist for both the International Book Award and the Independent Book Award, while his verse memoir, My Old Man Was Always on the Lam, was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize, and the audiobook adaption of his children’s verse biography, I and I, Bob Marley (Live Oak Media), featuring actor Jaime Lincoln Smith, received the 2022 Audie Award in the Young Listeners category. Medina has appeared in several documentaries and CD compilations and has read/performed his work all over the United States, as well as in Germany, France, Poland, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Netherlands. The first professor of creative writing at Howard University, Medina’s poetry, fiction and essays appears in over 100 journals and anthologies, including Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resistance; The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry; We Rise, We Resist, We Raises Our Voices; Manteca! An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets, and Brown Sugar: A Collection of Erotic Black Fiction, as well as Sheree Renée Thomas’ Dark Matter, Ishmael Reed’s Hollywood Unchained, and Kevin Young’s Library of America anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, and as an advisory editor for Nikki Giovanni’s Hip Hop Speaks to Children. Medina has also been featured on NBC’s philanthropic reality show, Give, PBS’ White House Chronicle, CBS’ Great Day Washington, SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live, Medgar Evers College’s Writers on Writing, Forbes magazine, and has worked extensively with the non-profit literary organizations Say It Loud, Behind the Book, and Meet the Writers. Medina’s book, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy, was featured on Let’s Learn NYC for PBS and his graphic novel was a Barnes & Noble Graphic Novel Best Seller, a finalist for the Excellence in Graphic Literature Award, and was a “Book to Action” feature in the Orange County Public Library System of California, among other honors. His books, Serious Trouble and Everywhere Drums: Poets from the Black Arts to Black Lives Matter (coedited with Mudiwa Pettus) are forthcoming from Third World Press. Follow him on Facebook; Twitter: @PoetTonyMedina and Instagram: poettonymedina. His website is tonymedina.org.

Jacqueline Woodson's memoir BROWN GIRL DREAMING won the 2014 National Book Award and was a NY Times Bestseller. Her novel, ANOTHER BROOKLYN, was a National Book Award finalist and an Indie Pick in 2016. Among her many awards, she the recipient of the Kurt Vonnegut Award, four Newbery Honors, two Coretta Scott King Award, and the Langston Hughes Medal. Jacqueline is the author of nearly thirty books for young people and adults including EACH KINDNESS, IF YOU COME SOFTLY, LOCOMOTION and I HADN'T MEANT TO TELL YOU THIS. She served as Young People's Poet Laureate from 2014-2016, was a fellow at The American Library in Paris, occasionally writes for the New York Times, is currently working on more books and like so many writers - lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed Abenaki children's book author, poet, novelist and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. Coauthor with Michael Caduto of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series, Bruchac's poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from Akwesasne Notes and American Poetry Review to National Geographic and Parabola. He has authored more than 50 books for adults and children. For more information about Joseph, please visit his website www.josephbruchac.com.

JABARI ASIM is the acclaimed author of "A Taste Of Honey" and "Only The Strong," both works of fiction, as well as the highly praised "The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, And Why" and "We Can't Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival."

His children's books include "Whose Toes Are Those," "Whose Knees Are These," "Preaching To The Chickens," and "A Child's Introduction to African-American History."

He is a professor of creative writing at Emerson College.

Charles R. Smith Jr. is an award-winning children's book author, photographer and poet with over thirty books to his credit. His awards include a Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration for his photographs accompanying the Langston Hughes poem, “My People” and a Coretta Scott King Honor Author Award for his biography on Muhammad Ali, “Twelve Rounds to Glory.” Many of his books have also garnered reluctant reader awards, proving that kids that don’t like to read, do like to read his books.

Charles combines his passions of writing and photography with a variety of subjects that spark his interest. Even though his early books such as “Rimshots”, “Hoop Kings” and “Hoop Queens focus on basketball, Charles has shown the ability to apply his talents to a variety of subjects, including diversity with “I Am America” and "I Am the World", Greek mythology with “The Mighty 12”, how slaves built the White House with "Brick by Brick" and Negro League baseball with “Stars in the Shadows” to name a few. His poetry has also been used to paint unique biographical portraits of personal heroes such as the aforementioned Ali, boxer Jack Johnson and soon, guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

Of the distinctive niche Charles fills with his books, he notes, "I want to show students, particularly boys, that there are many ways to pursue their interests, no matter what they may be."

To hear excerpts from his books and learn more about Charles R. Smith Jr, visit his website at www.charlesrsmithjr.com

Sharon Draper is a two-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author, most recently for Copper Sun, and previously for Forged by Fire. She's also the recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Author Award for New Talent for Tears of a Tiger and the Coretta Scott King Author Honor for The Battle of Jericho and November Blues. Her other books include Romiette and Julio, Darkness Before Dawn, and Double Dutch. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she taught high school English for twenty-five years. She's a popular conference speaker, addressing educational and literary groups both nationally and internationally.

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Wade Hudson's career as a writer spans more than three decades. In 1988, Hudson's passion for writing and life-long mission to help foster positive self-image within the Black community, prompted he and his wife Cheryl to launch Just Us Books, the nation's leading independent publisher of Black-interest books for young people. Another imprint, Marimba Books, was launched in 2008, with a focus on multicultural literature for children and young adults.

An accomplished and award-winning author, he has written more than 30 books for young people including, AFRO-BETS Book of Black Heroes, Poetry from the Masters: The Pioneers and Jamal's Busy Day, Pass It On: African-American Poetry for Children, Powerful Words: More than 200 Years of Extraordinary Writing by African Americans and the Great Black Heroes series, Its Church Going Time, Places I Love to Go, and Puddin, Jeffrey and Leah: Best Friends, the anthology, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices and The Talk, Conversations About Race, Love & Truth, both co-edited with Cheryl Willis Hudson. A third anthology, also co-edited with Cheryl, Recognize, An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life will be released in October as well as his coming-of-age memoir, Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South.

Wade speaks to students across the country and conducts workshops for teachers and parents. He can be reached at justusbook@aol.com. Web Site: www.justusbooks.com.

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Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American winner of the first Newbery Honor ever awarded to a Latino. Her award winning young adult novels in verse include The Surrender Tree, The Poet Slave of Cuba, and The Lightning Dreamer, winner of the PEN USA Award.

Engle's most recent books are Orangutanka, Drum Dream Girl, The Sky Painter, and Enchanted Air. All of these books are to be released in 2015. For news and updates, visit http://margaritaengle.com/

She lives in central California, where she enjoys helping her husband with his volunteer work for wilderness search and rescue dog training programs.

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, and New York Times Bestselling author of 35 books, including BECOMING MUHAMMAD ALI (co-authored with James Patterson), SOLO, REBOUND, which was shortlisted for prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, The Caldecott Medal and Newbery Honor-winning picture book, THE UNDEFEATED, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and, his NEWBERY medal-winning middle grade novel, THE CROSSOVER. A regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. In 2018, he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy program he co-founded. Kwame is the Founding Editor of VERSIFY, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt that aims to Change the World One Word at a Time.

Kwame's most recent book is LIGHT FOR THE WORLD TO SEE: A THOUSAND WORDS ON RACE AND HOPE. Find out more info on Kwame and where he'll be at www.KwameAlexander.com.

Vanessa celebrates self-love and acceptance of all cultures through her work, and hopes to inspire young readers to find their own voices. She first learned to express herself as a little girl through song. Growing up in a musical family, Vanessa’s parents taught her how to sing to help overcome her stuttering. Each night the family would gather to make music together, with her mom on piano, her dad on guitar, and Vanessa and her sister, Coy, singing the blues, gospel, spirituals, and jazz. Now whenever she illustrates, music fills the air and finds its way into her art. The children she draws can be seen dancing, wiggling, and moving freely across the page in an expression of happiness. Music is a constant celebration, no matter the occasion, and Vanessa hopes her illustrations bring joy to others, with the same magic of a beautiful melody.

Kelly Starling Lyons began her journey to become a children's book author in her hometown of Pittsburgh. She learned the art of storytelling from her mom who took her to productions at a children's theater, wrote plays and made up bedtime tales. Her grandparents, who showed their imagination through cooking and gardening, taught her to honor the magic of history and home. Surrounded by creativity, Lyons began to write.

She curled up near the radiator behind her bedroom door and allowed her pen to take her to other worlds. A canopy of trees transformed into a make-believe fortress, backyards hid treasure and tunnels to faraway lands, bridges that crossed the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers spanned distance and time.

Now a children's book author and teaching artist, her mission is to center Black heroes, celebrate family, friendship and heritage and show all kids the storyteller they hold inside. Many of her books have won accolades including a Caldecott Honor for Going Down Home with Daddy, illustrated by Daniel Minter; Christopher Award for Tiara's Hat Parade, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell; a Geisel Honor for Ty's Travels: Zip, Zoom, illustrated by Nina Mata and Junior Library Guild selection for Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon, illustrated by Laura Freeman. Her latest picture book, My Hands Tell a Story, illustrated by Tonya Engel, earned two starred reviews.

Kelly also writes for chapter book readers. Her Jada Jones series has earned praise for celebrating an African-American girl who loves science, friends and family. The latest is Jada Jones: Nature Lover. In 2022, Kelly's Miles Lewis spin-off series debuted. The first book, Miles Lewis: King of the Ice, is a Junior Library Guild selection. Stay tuned for more easy readers, picture books and chapter books.

Find out more about Kelly at www.kellystarlinglyons.com. Thanks for your support.

The first name bits:

What Jason knows is that there are a lot — A LOT — of people, young, old, and in-between, who hate reading. He knows that many of these book haters are boys. He knows that many of these book-hating boys, don't actually hate books, they hate boredom. If you are reading this, and you happen to be one of these boys, first of all, you're reading this Jason's master plan is already working (muahahahahahaha) and second of all, know that Jason totally feels you. He REALLY does. Because even though he's a writer, he hates reading boring books too.

So here's what he plans to do: NOT WRITE BORING BOOKS.

That's it, and that's all.

Now, for the last name bits:

Jason Reynolds is an award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Jason’s many books include Miles Morales: Spider Man, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Correta Scott King Honor, and Look Both Ways, which was a National Book Award Finalist. His latest book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, is a collaboration with Ibram X. Kendi. Recently named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich is the author of several children’s books, including Operation Sisterhood, It Doesn't Take A Genius, 8th Grade Superzero, Two Naomis, co-authored with Audrey Vernick, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, Saving Earth: Climate Change and the Fight for Our Future, Above and Beyond: NASA's Journey to Tomorrow, and the picture books Someday Is Now and Mae Makes A Way. She is a member of the Brown Bookshelf, and editor of the We Need Diverse Books anthology The Hero Next Door. Olugbemisola lives with her family in New York City where she writes, makes things, and needs to get more sleep.

Please visit with her anytime on IG @olugbemisolarhudayperkovich and at http://olugbemisolabooks.com for updates and more. Thank you for reading!

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Author, publisher and entrepreneur, Cheryl Willis Hudson began her career doing textbook design for publishers such as Houghton Mifflin and Macmillan.

Noticing a lack of quality Black-interest books for her own two children, in 1988, Cheryl Hudson and her husband Wade formed Just Us Books, Inc., a publishing company that specializes in children's books that focus on Black experiences, history and culture. Hudson's AFRO-BETS® ABC Book was Just Us Books' first published title.

Cheryl Willis Hudson has written over 24 children's books, including the classic Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, Many Colors of Mother Goose, and Come By Here, Lord: Everyday Prayers for Children, Hold Christmas In Your Heart, What Do You Know, Snow!, the What a Baby board book series (Scholastic, Inc.) Hands Can (Candlewick), My Friend Maya Loves to Dance (Abrams) and From Where I Stand (Marimba Books).

She is co-editor with Wade Hudson of We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices and The Talk:Conversations About Race, Love & Truth (Crown Books for Young Readers).

As an author, Cheryl Willis Hudson crafts vibrant and engaging multicultural books that allow children of color to see themselves positively reflected in society. As a diversity workshop facilitator and speaker she shares her experience and expertise in developing curricula of inclusions with schools and educational organizations. She loves to visit schools and libraries to talk with children and parents.

For fun, Cheryl sings with friends in an amateur acappella vocal group. She lives in Northern New Jersey with her family.

The illustrations created by Rafael López bring diverse characters to children’s books and he works to produce and promote books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people.

His 2018 picture book release, The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson was a New York Times #1 Children’s Picture Books Bestseller and the recipient of the 2019 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You, written by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor focuses on differently abled kids working together to create a garden. The book is a #1 New York Times Children’s Picture Books Bestseller and won the American Library Association's 2020 Schneider Family Book Award.

Rafael López has received three Pura Belpré Award medals from the American Library Association for Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln (2020) Drum Dream Girl (2016) and Book Fiesta! (2010). In addition he secured three Pura Belpré honors. Upcoming illustrated books in 2022 include The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson released in January and The Little Book of Joy by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu due out in September.

His illustrations for Bravo! Poems about Amazing Hispanics were honored with the 2017 Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators New York Original Art Exhibition. The book Maybe Something Beautiful based on his own work reclaiming neighborhoods with community murals secured the 2017 Tomás Rivera Book Award. Additional children's books have received three Pura Belpré honors and two Américas Book Awards for illustration.

He created a series of 54 portraits for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino. In 2022 he served as the first guest artist of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum giving workshops to children and families. He was asked by the Library of Congress to create the National Book Festival Poster in 2012, an event featuring best-selling authors, poets and illustrators on the National Mall in Washington D.C. He has created thirteen stamps for the United States Postal Service.

To learn more visit rafaellopez.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_L%C3%B3pez_(illustrator_and_artist)

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Bowie, Maryland, native Andrea Pippins studied at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, where she earned a B.F.A. in graphic design. She began her career as a graphic designer working for Hallmark Cards before transitioning to illustration work for cable television networks.

After earning her M.F.A. at Temple, Pippins taught graphic design at both Stevenson University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Since then, she has been working as an illustrator on projects for clients, including Apple, Instagram, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Sephora, and USPS.

Pippins has authored and illustrated many books, among them are I Love My Hair, a coloring book celebrating a variety of hairstyles and textures; Becoming Me, an interactive journal for young women; and We Inspire Me, a collection of essays and ideas to inspire the cultivation of a creative community. She is also the illustrator of Young Gifted and Black, Step Into Your Power, and Big Ideas for Young Thinkers.

With a celebratory and bold visual style that utilizes vivid color, Pippins uses her work to propel her mission of empowering women and girls through creative expression.

When she’s not working, Pippins enjoys writing, cooking, dancing Samba, and drawing and painting with her son and daughter.

Andrea lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Andrea Pippins elsewhere:

portfolio: andreapippins.com

instagram: @andreapippins

twitter: @andreagpippins

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Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Lesa Cline-Ransome’s first book was the biography Satchel Paige, an ALA Notable Book and a Bank Street College “Best Children’s Book of the Year. She later created a number of picture books including Quilt Alphabet, Major Taylor: Champion Cyclist, Young Pele, Words Set Me Free, My Story, My Dance, and Germs: Fact and Fiction, Friends and Foes. Her verse biography of Harriet Tubman, Before She Was Harriet, was nominated for an NAACP image award, and received a Coretta Scott King Honor for Illustration. Her newest picture biography is Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams. Finding Langston, her debut middle grade novel is a 2018 School Library Journal Best Book, Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Novel and New York Public Library Best Book of 2018.

Lesa’s books have received numerous honors and awards including NAACP Awards , Kirkus Best Books, ALA Notable, CBC Choice Awards, two Top 10 Sports Books for Youth, a Christopher Award, Jane Addams Award and an Orbis Pictus Recommended Book. She lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband, and frequent collaborator, illustrator James Ransome. Visit her at www.lesaclineransome.com.

In addition to the Coretta Scott King, the Orbis Pictus, the NAACP Image Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book awards, Pat Cummings is the recipient of nine t-shirts, twenty two mugs, seven hundred forty-five ballerina drawings and one embroidered pillow from readers. After graduating from Pratt Institute she began a career as a freelance illustrator, working on editorial, advertising, theatrical and, eventually, picture book projects .

Pat is the author and/or illustrator of over 40 books, both fiction and non-fiction, from board books to young adult. Her TALKING WITH ARTISTS series features prominent children's book illustrators while TALKING WITH ADVENTURERS, co-authored and edited with her sister, Linda Cummings Minor, PhD. features interviews and profiles of explorers and scientists such as Jane Goodall and Robert Ballard.

She has worked as a producer and writer for Nickelodeon's Gullah Gullah Island and now teaches children's book illustration and writing at Parsons, The New School for Design and Pratt Institute. The growing list of gifted and award-winning students of her class include David Eza Stein whose book INTERRUPTING CHICKEN has become an animated series on Apple TV and Xindi Yan, illustrator of Reese Witherspoon's BUSY BETTY books.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Pat was an Army brat and grew up in Germany, Okinawa, Kansas and Virginia. She and her husband Chuku Lee, author of her picture book, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, live in a loft in beautiful downtown Brooklyn, New York. Her latest books include her debut middle grade novel, TRACE, from HarperCollins and WHERE IS MOMMY?, a picture book from Holiday House.

Pat sits on the Advisory Council of SCBWI, the Boards of the Authors Guild, the Authors League Fund, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation and serves as Chair of the Founders Award Jury for the Society of Illustrators’ annual Original Art Show. She is also a member of WGAE, The Writer’s Guild of America, East.

Find her on Twitter @PatCummingsBook and Instagram at patcummingsbooks.

Nina Crews creates energetic, affirming books for young children. Her picture books include: A GIRL LIKE ME, SEEING INTO TOMORROW: HAIKU BY RICHARD WRIGHT, ONE HOT SUMMER DAY, THE NEIGHBORHOOD MOTHER GOOSE and BELOW. Her work has been recognized by the ALA Notable Committee, National Council of Teachers of English, Cooperative Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild, Bank Street College of Education and numerous others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son. www.ninacrews.com

Zetta Elliott is a Black feminist writer of poetry, plays, essays, novels, and stories for children. She was born and raised in Canada, but has lived in the US for over 25 years. She earned her PhD in American Studies from NYU in 2003; she has taught at Ohio University, Louisiana State University, Mount Holyoke College, Hunter College, Bard High School Early College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College. Her poetry has been published in New Daughters of Africa, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, the Cave Canem anthology The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, Check the Rhyme: an Anthology of Female Poets and Emcees, and Coloring Book: an Eclectic Anthology of Fiction and Poetry by Multicultural Writers. Her novella, Plastique, was excerpted in T Dot Griots: an Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers, and her plays have been staged in New York, Cleveland, and Chicago. Her essays have appeared in School Library Journal, The Huffington Post, and Publishers Weekly. Her picture book, Bird, won the Honor Award in Lee & Low Books’ New Voices Contest and the Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers. Her young adult novel, A Wish After Midnight, has been called “a revelation…vivid, violent and impressive history.” Ship of Souls was published in February 2012; it was named a Booklist Top Ten Sci-fi/Fantasy Title for Youth and was a finalist for the Phillis Wheatley Book Award. Her YA novel, The Door at the Crossroads, was a finalist in the Speculative Fiction category of the 2017 Cybils Awards, and her picture book, Melena’s Jubilee, won a 2017 Skipping Stones Honor Award. She received the Children’s Literature Association’s Article Award for her 2014 essay, “The Trouble with Magic: Conjuring the Past in New York City Parks.” She is an advocate for greater diversity and equity in publishing, and has self-published numerous illustrated books for younger readers under her own imprint, Rosetta Press; 3 were named Best of the Year by the Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature, and Benny Doesn’t Like to Be Hugged was a first-grade fiction selection for the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Dragons in a Bag, a middle grade fantasy novel, was published by Random House in 2018; the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) named it a Notable Children’s Book. Its sequel, The Dragon Thief, was named a Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 by CBC Books. Say Her Name, a young adult poetry collection, was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in January 2020; A Place Inside of Me was published in July 2020 by FSG and was named a Notable Poetry Book by NCTE. She currently lives in Evanston, IL.

Tameka Fryer Brown is an award-winning picture book author. Her titles include Around Our Way on Neighbors' Day, My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood, Brown Baby Lullaby, Twelve Dinging Doorbells, Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm's Fight for Change, and That Flag. Her work is also featured in the anthology, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices.

Tameka's next picture book, All the Greatness in You, will publish in 2024 with Macmillan/FSG. To learn more about Tameka, visit tamekafryerbrown.com.

Innosanto Nagara was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. He came to the US to study zoology and philosophy at UC Davis. He then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked as a graphic designer for a range of social change organizations before founding the Design Action Collective. Design Action is a worker-owned studio in Oakland, California, that is dedicated to serving the Movement for social change. Inno lives in a co-housing community in Oakland where his child is the youngest of eight children to be born into the household.

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