KEYNOTES

Samira Ahmed is the New York Times bestselling author of Love, Hate, & Other Filters and Internment. She was born in Bombay, India, and has lived in New York, Chicago, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango. She invites you to visit her online at samiraahmed.com and on Twitter and Instagram @sam_aye_ahm. 

George M. Johnson (they/them) is an Emmy nominated, award-winning, and bestselling Black nonbinary author and activist. Their debut memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue, was a New York Times bestseller and garnered many accolades. It was the #1 most banned book of 2024 in the United States, according to the American Library Association.  They also wrote Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known. Originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, they now live in Los Angeles, California. 

Leah Johnson (she/her) is an eternal midwesterner and author of award-winning books for children and young adults. Her bestselling debut YA novel, You Should See Me in a Crown, was named by TIME as one of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. She is also the author of the middle grade novel, Ellie Engle Saves Herself, and the editor of the USA Today bestselling anthology, Black Girl Power. When she’s not writing, you can find her at Loudmouth Books, her Indianapolis-based independent bookstore that specializes in highlighting the work of marginalized authors and uplifting banned or challenged books. 

SPEAKERS

Marie Arnold was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and came to America at the age of seven. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York alongside her extended family. She attended Columbia College in Chicago, where her main focus was creative writing. As Lola StVil, she is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling indie author. Over two million readers have downloaded her young adult fantasy series Guardians. She currently has three projects under development at Disney Junior and Disney Plus, one of which is an animated show based on her middle grade novel The Year I Flew Away. 

Lily Anderson is the author of several novels for young adults including The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You, Not Now Not Ever, and Undead Girl Gang. A former school librarian, she is deeply devoted to Shakespeare, fairy tales, and podcasts. Somewhere in Northern California, she is having strong opinions on musical theater.

Jeannine Atkins is best known for her Girls Who Loved the Earth series, including Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner’s Call to Science and Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth, published earlier this year. In Knocking on Windows: A Memoir Jeannine explores how she became a writer while recovering from a rape when she was eighteen. She offers letter poems to writers who inspired her, including Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, and Maya Angelou, as she chronicles silences, setbacks, and the support of friends, therapists, and faculty.   

Kalynn Bayron is the New York Times bestselling author of young adult novels Cinderella Is Dead and This Poison Heart. Her newest young adult novel is Make Me A Monster coming out in September 2025. When she's not writing you can find her listening to Ella Fitzgerald on loop, attending the theater, watching scary movies, and spending time with her kids. She currently lives in Ithaca, New York with her family. 

Julie Berry is the New York Times bestselling author of the 2020 NCTE Walden Award and SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner Lovely War, the 2017 Printz Honor The Passion of Dolssa, the Carnegie and Edgar-shortlisted All the Truth That’s in Me, the Odyssey Honor The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, and the Wishes and Wellingtons trilogy.  Her new YA novel is If Looks Could Kill.  Julie holds a BS from Rensselaer in communication and an MFA from Vermont College. Julie owns Author’s Note, an adorable independent bookstore in Medina, New York.  

Taylor Cassidy is a content creator who gained popularity from her online series Fast Black History, where, with quick wit and strong passion, she teaches Black history to her audience of millions. She uses her platform to advocate for representation, education, and creativity. Generous with sharing motivation and good energy online, Taylor is passionate about encouraging others to dream bigger for themselves. She continues to use her platform to teach, spread joy, and share fun pictures of herself. 

Kaitlyn Cavalancia grew up devouring mystery and fantasy novels, certain that the right wardrobe would contain a door to another world. She’s an orthodontist who fights crooked teeth during the day and writes books brimming with murder and magic at night. Currently she lives in western Pennsylvania with her husband, son, and dog. 

John Cochran grew up in Kansas City and studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He worked as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina before moving to Washington, D.C., to cover Congress for Congressional Quarterly. The National Press Foundation recognized his work with its Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. He now lives on Capitol Hill with his wife and children. Breaking into Sunlight is his first novel. 

Chris Condon is the writer of the ongoing Image Comics series That Texas Blood, as well as its acclaimed Wild West spinoff, The Enfield Gang Massacre. He is currently writing Green Arrow for DC Comics and Ultimate Wolverine for Marvel. He has a rescue pitbull named Obi who actually does most of the writing. 

Jesmeen Kaur Deo grew up in northern British Columbia. When not wrapped up in stories, she can be found biking, playing the harmonium, or struggling to open jars. Her debut YA novel, TJ Powar Has Something to Prove was shortlisted for the German Youth Literature Prize as well as for the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award in Canada, and was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and Indie Next Pick among other honors. Reasons We Break is her second published novel. Jesmeen currently resides in Ontario, where she is always working on another book. 

Julia Drake’s debut novel The Last True Poets of the Sea received the 2020 New England Book Award, six starred reviews, and was named a 2019 Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, among other publications. She received her BA in Spanish from Williams College, and her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, where she also taught writing to first-year students. She currently works teaching writing to undergraduates. She lives in Philadelphia with her partner and their rescue rabbit, Ned. 

Gabriel Duckels holds a PhD in Education at the University of Cambridge as a Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholar. He is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of children’s literature and childhood studies; queer youth studies in popular culture and education; HIV/AIDS sociology; and the study of aesthetics, culture, and pedagogy. 

Jumata Emill is a journalist who has covered crime and local politics in Mississippi and parts of Louisiana. He earned his BA in mass communications from Southern University and A&M College. He’s a Pitch Wars alum and a member of the Crime Writers of Color. When he’s not writing about murderous teens, he’s watching and obsessively tweeting about every franchise of the Real Housewives. Jumata lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is the author of The Black Queen, Wander in the Dark, and I Don't Wish You Well. 

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, including Wild Dreamers, a Pura Belpré Honor Book. Wings in the Wild received an International Latino Book Award Gold Medal, and The Surrender Tree received a Newbery Honor. Her 2025 verse novel is Island Creatures. Margarita was born in Los Angeles but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives on the island. She studied agronomy and botany along with creative writing, and now lives in central California with her entomologist husband and soccer playing Border Collie. 

Nikita Gill is an Irish Indian poet who has the attention of over 800,000 Instagram followers worldwide for her work. Her work offers a shift of perspective which centers women in both Greek and Hindu myth as well as folklore. Gill has written two verse novels and seven poetry collections, including Fierce Fairytales, Wild Embers, and Where Hope Comes From which she published with Hachette Books.

Chloe Gong is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Secret Shanghai novels, as well as the Flesh and False Gods trilogy. Her books have been published in over twenty countries and have been featured in the New York Times, PEOPLE, Cosmopolitan, and more. She was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for 2024. Chloe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English and International Relations.  Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, she is now located in New York City, pretending to be a real adult.  

Brittney Griner is a pioneer, humanitarian, and activist and was named as one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2023. Griner is an NCAA champion, a WNBA champion, and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. Winner of the Best Female Athlete ESPY Award, and a nine-time WNBA All-Star, Griner is one of the most decorated and influential athletes of this generation. 

Shannon Hale is the New York Times bestselling author of over forty books for preschoolers, kids, teens, and adults, including multiple award winners The Goose Girl, Book of a Thousand Days, and Newbery Honor recipient Princess Academy, which is now being made into a graphic novel that is coming out in April 2026. She lives in Utah with her husband, their four children, and two ridiculous cats. 

Amanda M. Helander is a fantasy author and paralegal from Seattle, Washington. When she’s not writing, Amanda can be found watching horror movies, learning to crochet, or eating entire blocks of Parmesan in one sitting. Visit her online at www.amandahelander.com or @helander_amanda on Instagram. 

Deborah Heiligman has written many books for children and young adults, including Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children’s Ship,” a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award finalist and Golden Kite winner; Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers, a Michael L. Printz Honor winner, YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award winner, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner, and Golden Kite winner; Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith, a National Book Award finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor winner, and YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award winner; and Loudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America (A Love Story). She lives with her husband and dog in New York City.   

Farah Heron is a critically acclaimed author for adults and teens. Her books have been named as best books of the year by CBC books, USA Today, and NPR, and have been praised in Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, and Teen Vogue. She writes romantic comedies and young adult romances full of huge South Asian families, delectable food, and most importantly, brown people falling stupidly in love. She was recently the writer-in-residence at the Toronto Public Library and has been teaching romance writing for several years.   

Chris Kappel is a television writer who's written for CBS and Freeform.  Before that, he worked with some pretty cool filmmakers including Matt Reeves and Will Gluck.  Like a lot of queer kids, he had to inject queerness into the stories he loved when he was young, to imagine queer love wherever there was space to accommodate it.  Now he writes stories the kinds of stories he didn't have back then.  He lives in Los Angeles with his partner and their two dogs. 

David Levithan is the author of several books for young adults, including Lambda Literary Award winner Two Boys Kissing; Every Day; Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (co-authored with Rachel Cohn); Will Grayson, Will Grayson (co-authored with John Green); and Boy Meets Boy. In 2016, David received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. 

E. Lockhart is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the LIARS novels: We Were Liars, Family of Liars, and We Fell Apart. We Were Liars is also an original series on Prime Video. Her other books include Again Again, Genuine Fraud, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. She has been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Award and an honoree for the Printz Award. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. 

Petra Lord is a biracial trans author. She has a BFA in TV Writing from New York University, which she uses to recommend TV shows to her parents and predict the endings of movies. She's currently based in Los Angeles, where she feeds her dual addictions to hot pot and Korean barbecue and sustains herself off videos of her cat. Queen of Faces is her debut novel. Follow her on Instagram @Petralordauthor. 

Amber McBride estimates she reads about 100 books a year. Her work has been published in literary magazines including Ploughshares and Provincetown Arts. Her debut young adult novel, Me (Moth) was a finalist for the National Book Award, and won the 2022 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, among many other accolades. She is a professor of creative writing at University of Virginia, and lives in Charlottesville, Virgina. 

Marissa Meyer is the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Renegades Trilogy, The Lunar Chronicles series, the Wires and Nerve graphic novels, and The Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book. Her first standalone novel, Heartless, was also a #1 New York Times bestseller. Marissa created and hosts a podcast called The Happy Writer. She lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and their two daughters. 

Stephanie Morrill writes books about girls who are on an adventure to discover their unique place in the world. She is the author of several contemporary young adult series, as well as two historical young adult novels, The Lost Girl of Astor Street and Within These Lines. Stephanie encourages the next generation of writers at her website, GoTeenWriters.com. She lives in the Kansas City area, where she loves plotting big and small adventures to enjoy with her husband and three children. You can connect with Stephanie and learn more about her books at StephanieMorrill.com. 

Laura Taylor Namey is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of young adult fiction including Reese’s Book Club pick A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak, When We Were Them, and With Love, Echo Park. A proud Cuban American, she can be found hunting for vintage treasures and wishing she was in London or Paris. She lives in San Diego with her husband and two children.   

Trung Le Nguyen, also known as Trungles, is a comic book artist and illustrator working out of Minnesota. He received his BA from Hamline University in 2012, majoring in Studio Art with a concentration in oil painting and minoring in Art History. He has contributed work for Oni Press, BOOM! Studios, Limerence Press, and Image Comics. He is particularly fond of fairy tales, kids' cartoons, and rom-coms of all stripes.    

Kayden Phoenix is a writer from Boyle Heights, California. She created the first Latina superhero team in comic book history: A LA BRAVA. “A big part of my life’s purpose is to give voice to stories as multifaceted, atypical, and diverse as the people we find in the real world.” 

S.G. Prince is a character-driven SFF author who writes about magic, found family, and forbidden love. She was born in Ohio, spent a few childhood years in Missouri, grew up in Florida, and has since lived in Fort Worth, Seattle, San Francisco and now the East Bay. She bakes sourdough on Wednesdays and dessert on Fridays. Her favorite words are always, surrender and headlong. 

Sonora Reyes is the bestselling and award-winning author of The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, The Luis Ortega Survival Club, and The Broposal. Born and raised in Arizona, they write fiction celebrating queer and Mexican stories in a variety of genres, across ages. Outside of writing, Sonora loves breaking their body and vocal cords by playing with their baby niblings and dancing/singing karaoke at the same time. 

Priyanka Taslim is a Bangladeshi American writer, educator, and lifelong New Jersey resident. Having grown up in a bustling Bangladeshi diaspora community, her writing often features families, communities, and all the drama therein. Her YA debut novel, The Love Match, has been praised in mediums such as Teen Vogue, USA Today, Pop Culturalist and others. Her most recent YA romcom, Always Be My Bibi, is out this summer. 

Jill Tew was destined for speculative fiction nerddom from childhood. She grew up watching Farscape, The Tribe, and Hercules, and always had the latest copy of Animorphs tucked in her backpack. A recovering business school graduate, Jill enjoys belting show tunes and baking in her spare time. She lives in Atlanta with her family. The Dividing Sky was her debut novel; this is her second. 

Crystal Velasquez is a prolific writer who has written numerous graphic novels as well as middle grade books for children, including Hunters of Chaos, the inspiration for Wildcats. She lives in Flushing, New York. 

Kiersten White is the #1 New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award–winning, and critically acclaimed author of many books, including Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel, Hide, Mister Magic, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, the And I Darken trilogy, the Camelot Rising trilogy, and Star Wars: Padawan. White lives with her family in San Diego, where they obsessively care for their deeply ambivalent tortoise, Kimberly. 

Keezy Young is a queer comic artist, writer, and illustrator from the Pacific Northwest, currently living in Seattle, WA. They grew up drawing on their walls, stealing a few extra chapters by nightlight after bedtime, making graveyards for lost animals in the forest with their brother and sister, and adding monsters and flowers to the margins of every homework assignment. Today, Keezy creates young adult graphic novels and short comics. Their stories are eerie, and often dark, but almost always hopeful at their core.

MODERATORS

Beth Atwater, apart from a brief stint in publishing, has worked in libraries since she was a teenager. She is now the Collection Development Librarian for Adult Fiction and DVDs at the Johnson County Library in Kansas. She also reviews Romance for Publisher’s Weekly and just finished serving as a movie Screener for the True/False Film Festival. Beth’s always looking for ways to highlight a good story and was honored to be recognized as the Public Library Association’s 2020 Allie Beth Martin winner. 

Monisha Blair is the Head Librarian at Key Middle School in Springfield, VA. She also reviews graphic novels, middle grade fiction, picture books, and young adult fiction for School Library Journal. She served on the SLJ Best Books Committee for Middle Grade Fiction from 2020-2023. You can find her on all social media platforms as @monishablair.

Elisa Anais Garcia is the Supervising Librarian of MyLibraryNYC, Collections at The New York Public Library in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, The Brooklyn Public Library, and The Queens Public Library. She is motivated to foster a love of reading in reluctant readers and therefore strives to introduce them to a diverse world of experiences through books. 

Grace D. Gipson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. As a Black future feminist/pop culture scholar, Dr. G's area of research interest centers on Black popular culture, digital humanities, representations of race and gender within comic books, Afrofuturism, and race and new media. Outside of the classroom, you can find Dr. G working in the community and on her social networks: Instagram- @lovejones20 and Twitter- @GBreezy20.

Brandi Grant has 12 years experience as a school librarian and currently is a middle school librarian at Pearson Middle School in Frisco ISD. The mission statement that guides her professionally is to strive to educate, prepare, and inspire all students to achieve their highest potential with various resources, a contagious love of reading and a positive and fun environment. What she holds tight is to provide a safe, inclusive, and flexible learning environment where whoever enters through the doors feels that they are free to COLLABORATE, INNOVATE, and ESCAPE. 

After 7 years of being a teacher, Heather Lassley felt a calling to another area in the school, the library. Heather has worked in Frisco ISD as a librarian for 13 years in the middle school area. Her passions are collection development, teaching research, and building a library for all students.  

Ashley Leffel is the librarian in Frisco, TX.  Before becoming a librarian, she taught music for many years. She loves reading all types of books and fangirling for her favorite authors. When not reading, she enjoys Broadway musicals and can quote just about every episode of Bob’s Burgers.

Emmy Neal is the teen librarian in Lake Forest, IL, where she lives with her dogs, plants, and more than a thousand books. Always an eclectic bookworm, she is passionate about collection development and getting the good books to the right readers. When she isn't reading, she can be found knitting, playing Dungeons & Dragons, or watching Korean and Chinese dramas.  

Alea Perez has been a Youth and Young Adult Services manager in the Chicago suburbs since June 2015. She aims to help children, teens, and their caregivers discover the many services libraries provide. Alea is dedicated to advocacy for youth and teen services, youth and teen services management, graphic novels for youth and teens, and equity and inclusion in the field at large. 

Ashley Rayner is a research librarian at NORC at the University of Chicago. She has been an academic and public librarian as well, all within the Chicagoland area. Ashley loves reading any genre but she has a special love for speculative fiction, historical fiction, and thrillers. She started writing book reviews for Booklist in 2020 and they help her stay connected to fiction as a librarian at a social science research organization. When she's not reading or researching, Ashley can be found playing video games, cooking, planning her next karaoke debut song, tweeting at @ashley_rayner, or hanging out with her husband and two kids.

Maegen Rose is the Director of Library Program and Upper School Librarian at Brooklyn Friends School (NY). She received a bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College, a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago, and a master’s degree in library science from Dominican University. Maegen is an active member of many local and national library organizations. She reviews books for School Library Journal and served on the 2019-2021 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury. Maegen is a member of Library Journal’s 2021 class of Movers & Shakers and currently chairs the 2023 Children’s Literature Legacy Committee.