Benjamin Appleby-Dean likes writing stories about all kinds of ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night. They live in the North-East of England with their wife and a collection of dysfunctional animals; and their initials spell BAD on purpose.

Threads: @badbadwriter

Helaine Becker is the bestselling author of more than 90 books for children and young adults, including the international bestseller Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13; and the #1 Canadian national bestseller and “enduring Canadian Christmas classic” A Porcupine in a Pine Tree (Scholastic Canada).

Website: helainebecker.com

Caroline writes books about big, magical feelings and girls who glow in the dark. When she's not writing or reading, you can find her playing video games, hiking, sewing, or exploring her local coffee shops. She studied Irish harp and creative writing at Oberlin College, and now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her partner and their three cats.

Tim writes and illustrates fiction and non-fiction books for children, with compelling text and the dynamic, colorful renderings he has become known for.

Tim has been fascinated by the distant past and the far future from a young age, and filled many sketchpads with drawings of dinosaurs, robots, and spaceships.

As a professional artist, Tim has had the opportunity to work with amazingly talented artists like Syd Mead, and companies like Hasbro (Tim worked on Transformers, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park toys).

Website: www.timjbradley.com

Hanna Brady is a writer living in Ohio and working all over the place. She's the co-author of Game Programming for Artists with Jarryd Huntley, her work is included in Queer Game Studies, and she's been known to write fiction too. She's a game writer and narrative designer, has taught writing workshops, and she and her husband own more board games than are strictly necessary.

Website: www.quixish.com

Sarah Butchin is an author and creative writing instructor. Her pieces have been published by various journals and literary sites. Sarah was awarded Adjunct Faculty of the Year by Maricopa Community Colleges where she teaches Introduction to Fiction Writing, Intermediate Fiction Writing, Basic Manuscript Writing, Introduction to Poetry, Intermediate Poetry Writing, and Introduction to Creative Writing. Her work has been recognized by Arizona State University’s Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing where Sarah is a Desert Nights, Rising Stars Fellow. Sarah has a B.S. in Applied Developmental Psychology and an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband and eight-year-old twins.

Twitter: @SarahButchin

Summer is a debut author who enjoys writing all things cozy, spicy, and utterly cottagecore. When she's not typing away, you can find her on stage as a professional classical actress or online, where she tells awkward stories of her life and love.

Website: summerengland.podia.com

TikTok: @SummerNEngland

Instagram: @SummerNEngland

Heidi Fiedler is a writer, editor, and creative coach. She dreams up cozy stories for kids and also writes about creativity and motherhood on her Substack Nebula Notebook. Heidi lives with her family and her favorite books in Massachusetts.

Website: https://www.helloheidifiedler.com/

Substack: https://heidifiedler.substack.com/

Instagram: @HeidiFiedler

Skyler Hammond left the world of law to embrace the dark side and become a writer. He is the creative mind behind A Teeny Tiny Story and its community, where he frequently writes 5 line stories for growing social media audiences, and works on novels in a variety of genres. He’s lived in Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany.

Twitter: @ATeenyTinyStory

Instagram: @ATeenyTinyStory

Facebook: A Teeny Tiny Story

Threads: @ATeenyTinyStory

Betsy James is the author-illustrator of seventeen books, fiction and nonfiction, for adults and children. Her most recent novel, Roadsouls, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award; her latest nonfiction, Breathing Stone: Living Small in a Southwest Village, is local and oral history. She leads writers’ workshops in the University of New Mexico Honors College. Also a painter, she is represented by Matteucci Galleries, Santa Fe, NM. A longtime hiker of desert backcountry, she lives in Albuquerque, NM.

Website: www.betsyjames.com

Dr. Somi Javaid is a board-certified OB/GYN, a leading women’s sexual health and menopause advocate, and the founder of HerMD, a comprehensive women’s health practice revolutionizing the future of women’s healthcare. With a mission to make women's healthcare exceptional, Dr. Javaid has dedicated herself to educating, advocating for, and empowering patients to take control of their health concerns.

Website: drsomi.com

Deborah Kerbel is the award-winning author of more than thirty books for young readers, including Fred & Marjorie, winner of the Forest of Reading Yellow Cedar Award and the Red Cedar Award, and Sun Dog, a Forest of Reading Blue Spruce Honour Book. Her books have been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Canadian Library Association’s YA Book Award, and the Rocky Mountain Book Award, among others. Deborah was born in London, England, and raised in Toronto, where she now lives with her family.

Website: www.DeborahKerbel.com

Twitter/X: @DeborahKerbel

Instagram: @DeborahKerbel.Books

In addition to being an author, Gloria Koster is a longtime children’s librarian. She says “so many of my story ideas come from my years spent listening to kids’ voices and concerns.” Gloria’s most recent title is the hilarious Overdue: The Misadventure of Bob the Book (Capstone). Earlier published books include The Peanut-Free Café (Albert Whitman), Mitzi’s Mitzvah (Kar-Ben), Little Red Ruthie: A Hanukkah Tale (Albert Whitman), Dance the Hora, Isadora! (Apples & Honey), and The King with a Horse’s Ears (Capstone). She is over-the-top excited to announce her newest project— a picture book biography of Leonard Bernstein to be published by Calkins Creek/Astra. Gloria is also the author of many early nonfiction books written for the educational market. At home in both the small town of Pound Ridge, New York and Manhattan, Gloria and her husband are the parents of three adult children and four energetic grand kids.

Website: www.gloriakoster.com

Facebook: Gloria Koster

Instagram: glowko22

Barbara Krasner is an award-winning author of novels in verse and other fiction for young readers, including the 2023 Paterson Prize for Young Readers Ethel's Song: Ethel Rosenberg's Life in Poems (Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers, 2022) and the Junior Library Guild selection, Facing the Enemy: How a Nazi Youth Camp in America Tested a Friendship (Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers, 2023). Her picture book, Goldie Takes a Stand: Golda Meir's First Crusade (Kar-Ben, 2014), earned a Sydney Taylor Silver Award. She is the author of more than 40 books of nonfiction for the youth market. Further, her short fiction and poetry for adults have earned her several Pushcart Prize nominations. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Chicken Fat (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and Pounding Cobblestone (Kelsay Books, 2018).

When not writing, Barbara, who holds a PhD in Holocaust & Genocide Studies, serves as Director, Mercer County Holocaust, Genocide & Human Rights Center and teaches writing, literature, history, and Holocaust and genocide at various institutions of higher learning in the New Jersey area.

Website: www.barbarakrasner.com

Caitlin is a part-time veterinary technician, full-time mom of three, and any-other-possible-time writer living in South Florida. She loves to write about kids with big dreams and bigger personalities and teens falling in love despite themselves. Goats are her weakness.

Twitter: @clennonwrites

Instagram: @clennonwrites

Alice B. McGinty delights in igniting imaginations. As the award-winning author of over 50 children’s books, she makes fiction and non-fiction accessible, engaging, and fun. Her books include Chicago and New York Public Libraries Best Book of 2022, Bathe the Cat; 2021 ALA Notable Book, JLG Selection and Norman A. Sugarman Honor Book, The Water Lady: How Darlene Arviso Helps a Thirsty Navajo Nation; and 2019 JLG Selection, The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney. A frequent presenter, Alice also serves as the Regional Advisor Emerita of the Illinois Chapter of SCBWI, runs Words on Fire Writing Camp for Teens, and is a book reviewer and writing coach.

Website: www.alicebmcginty.com

Instagram: @mcgintyalice

Facebook: Alice B McGinty

Donna Marie Merritt is a school librarian in Connecticut and has worked as a teacher, education editor, and ice cream scooper. Her newest role is Grandma and she says it’s the best job yet. Okay, EVER. Donna is the author of 17 books for kids and seven books of poetry for adults. She has also contributed articles, essays, stories, and poems to periodicals and anthologies over the past 20 years, including poems for National Geographic and Little, Brown.

Website: donnamariebooks.com

Wikipedia: Donna Marie Merritt

Facebook: Donna Marie Merritt

Instagram: @dmarietm

Roxie is the author/illustrator of more than 50 nonfiction, STEM/STEAM, and concept children’s books, many using "gamification" to encourage reading, learning, and engagement. Awards include New York Times Best Illustrated, Time magazine’s Best Children’s Book of the Year, Bank Street’s Cook Prize Honor for STEM, and numerous other awards, starred reviews, and top ten lists. Her books have been translated into French, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese. She created twelve interactive game apps, and had 14 New Yorker magazine covers published. Munro has book art in the following institutions: Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota; De Grummond, Southern Miss; Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers; Eric Carle Museum; New York Public Library; Mazza Museum, Univ of Findlay, Ohio; New-York Historical Society, others. She lectures in museums, schools, libraries, conferences, and teaches in workshops. She lives in New York City.

Webiste: www.roxiemunro.com

Threads: @RoxiesStudio

Twitter: @RoxieMunro

Facebook: Roxie Munro Studio

Instagram: @RoxiesStudio

Jeff Nicholas is an award-winning writer of children's fiction. He holds an MBA from Rowan University and an MFA in children's literature from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he received the Baumeister Scholarship for Outstanding Creative Fiction. He lives with his family in New Jersey.

Michelle Robins is an American expat living in Central Europe and a member of the Prague Writer’s Group. When not telling stories, she can be found with her nose stuck in a book, building and designing websites, or trying to teach herself one of her many target languages. As a polyglot and former English language teacher, she often has the opportunity to use her knowledge of grammar for both good and evil.

Website: michellemrobins.com

Twitter: @AWanderingMuse

Instagram: @OneWanderingMuse

Raj Sidhu never grew up. Though he runs a successful education company and has two young children of his own, Raj insists on collecting pocket monsters and building imaginary, secret worlds to this day.

Website: www.rajsidhu.org

Twitter: @_raj_sidhu

Deb writes lighthearted picture books for kids. She grew up wanting to be an actress, a Solid Gold dancer, or a brain surgeon. When none of those panned out, she got a job at a bank. Not her thing, but that’s where she honed in on her writing — and kept at it. Deb lives outside of Boston with her family.

Sarah Van Goethem is a Canadian Author of short stories and novels, and a library assistant. She lives in a century farmhouse and traipses about in her own dark forest, living her best gothic heroine lifestyle.

Sarah’s novels have been longlisted for The Bath Children’s Novel Award, and shortlisted for CANSCAIP’S Writing for Children Competition. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and several have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. One was a finalist for the CBC Nonfiction Prize.

Website: SarahVanGoethem.com

Twitter: @sairdysue

Instagram: @sairdysue

Margaret Willey has published work in a number of genres—novels for young adults, short stories, picture books, and autobiographical essays. Her books have received numerous awards and citations; her young adult novel Beetle Boy received three starred reviews and an Honor Award from the Society of Midland Authors. In 2011 she was awarded the 2011 Michigan Reading Association Gwen Frostic Award for impacting literacy in Michigan.

She has lived most of her life, and set most of her books, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Recently, she moved across the lake and now lives in Milwaukee.

Website: margaretwilley.com