Kerry O’Malley Cerra is an award-winning author of middle grade books. Her first novel, Just a Drop of Water, landed on five state reading lists, won the Crystal Kite Award, a Florida Book Award, and was named to VOYA’s Top Shelf Fiction list for 2014. Her second novel, Hear Me, is a Sunshine State Reader Award winner. Stay tuned for her forthcoming books, Make a Little Wave, (Oct. 1, 2024 from Carolrhoda Books, Lerner Publishing) and a nonfiction picture book, The Gallaudet Eleven: The Story of NASA’s Deaf Bioastronauts (March 2026 from Little, Brown BFYR). Kerry’s work has received praise from The New York Times, Kirkus, School Library Journal, Booklist, VOYA, and the Horn Book Guide calling her stories moving, perceptive, well-developed, and woven with an expert hand. A deaf author herself (who now hears with the help of one cochlear implant), she’s passionate about books that depict d/Deaf and/or hearing loss experiences for children. Kerry, a former high school media specialist and social studies teacher, lives in South Florida with her husband. 

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Mona Danesh is an Iranian-American illustrator based in Ohio. They earned a BFA in Illustration from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Mona loves to make work inspired by their Persian heritage, history, and anything cute. Their favorite things to draw are warm scenes, rugs, and funny little animals. When they’re not creating you can find Mona reading comics, sipping on iced coffee, or spending a cozy day in with their cat.

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Nátali de Mello is a Brazilian-Canadian author and illustrator based in Ottawa. She holds an MA in Illustration from Falmouth University and has illustrated several picture books, including My Dinosaurs—and Other Pre-historic Animals, a nonfiction book she wrote in collaboration with the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, published by Balão Editorial in Brazil. She is also the author and illustrator of Look Alike (forthcoming with Roaring Brook Press) and illustrator of a picture book forthcoming with Kids Can Press. 

With a diverse background (she is also a graphic designer and holds a BA in Architecture), Nátali loves using creativity and inclusivity in her work, mixing traditional and digital media. When she's not drawing, you can find her hiking in nature with her husband and twins—or enjoying a nice slice of pizza!

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Mariyka Foster is an author-illustrator of picture books and a designer for kids’ apparel. Her debut book Leo and the Pink Marker (Peachtree Publishing 2024) was featured by Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Parents.com. Her second book, You're Still Pretty New Here, is set to hit shelves in 2026. She strives to fill her stories with humor, heart, and warm representation of families of all shapes and colors. She lives in Atlanta with her partner and their fluffy bobtail cat, Jasper. 

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Leanne Hatch is the illustrator or author-illustrator of eleven picture books. Her books have received recognition including Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections, Society of Illustrators' Original Art show selections, a Booklist Starred review, and a Today Show Spring pick, and they have made best book lists from NPR, Bank Street College of Education, and more. Leanne was commissioned as conference artist for the 2023 SCBWI Winter Conference and presented on portfolios at their 2022 Summer Conference. She has previously won SCBWI's Narrative Art Award and was a Grand Prize winner and two time Honoree in their Portfolio Showcase. Leanne is an accessory and textile designer for a trendy teen retailer and has dual bachelor’s degrees in Apparel Design and Fine Arts with an emphasis on drawing. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children. 

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Angela Marise Johnson is an illustrator and writer from Los Angeles, currently living on the Big Island of Hawai'i among the trees. Her work explores themes of creativity, magical realism, and the connection between art and nature. Angela holds a BFA from Otis College of Art and Design, where she studied a range of fine art disciplines, including photography, painting, sculpture, and performance art. She draws inspiration from land art, observing plants in her garden, listening to music, and making art with her daughter. Angela's work is featured in a forthcoming anthology with HarperCollins.  

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Anna E. Jordan’s debut middle-grade novel, Shira and Esther's Double Dream Debut (Chronicle Books, 2023) was named a Best Book of 2023 by Bank Street, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Tablet Magazine. She is also the author of This Pup Steps Up! A Dog Book for Kids (Rockridge Press, 2021), and her work appears in the anthology The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems (Candlewick, 2019) and national children’s magazines including Ladybug, Babybug, and Highlights High Five. Anna has an MFA from the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and was the recipient of the 2013 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery award. She is a member of SCBWI and the DC Children’s Book Guild. She teaches fifth grade, lives in the DC area with her cat Rothko, and is in search of the tastiest Knish.

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Su Youn Lee holds a BFA and MFA from the School of Visual Arts and won the 2016 SCBWI NY Student Illustrator Scholarship. Her author-illustrator debut Have You Eaten?: A Story of Food, Friendship, and Kindness (Feiwel & Friends) was selected for the Children's Book Council's 2023 Teacher Favorites & Librarian Favorites Award Lists. Su Youn is also the illustrator of I Love You Alotl, I Love You So Much (HarperCollins 2025) and several books for Korean publisher Deutda, including Caroline's Garden, which she also wrote. She lives with her family in South Korea. 

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Andrea L. Mack lives in Ontario and is a long time member of SCBWI, 12 x 12, and critique groups. She has participated in RUCCL’s One-on-One Conference and picture book courses with Harold Underdown and Eileen Robinson. Andrea shares her thoughts on children’s books from both a writer and educator’s perspective on her blog and on Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s Youtube channel and has served as a Cybils judge. Andrea has written over 20 easy-to-read books for Unibooks of Korea, a leveled reader for Scholastic Canada, and over 100 stories and articles for educational publishers. 

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April dela Noche Milne is a mixed Filipino-Canadian illustrator and writer based in Vancouver. She graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Emily Carr University and has illustrated for various publications such as The Globe and Mail and Chatelaine. April contributed to the Cloudscape comics anthology The Witching Hours, and illustrated the middle-grade graphic novel The Blue Road: A fable of migration, which was named a Quill and Quire Best Book of the Year. A graduate of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University, her debut picture book as author-illustrator, Nora at Night, is forthcoming with Kids Can Press in Fall 2026.

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ila Nguyen-Hayama is a Japanese-Vietnamese American artist who had somehow wandered into the world of comics after studying evolutionary biology and culinary arts. Her debut graphic novel Red Threads: A Witch's Tale publishes with Abrams Fanfare in Fall 2025. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family of humans, a dog, cat, two small parrots, and two chickens. 

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Heather Preusser is the author of the Hedgehog Whodunit chapter book series, illustrated by Gal Weizman (Andrews McMeel), and the picture book A Symphony of Cowbells, illustrated by Eileen Ryan Ewen (Sleeping Bear Press). Originally from Maine, Heather holds a BA in English and art history from Williams College, an MA in education from the University of Colorado, and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Southern Maine. Now a resident of Colorado, Heather teaches high school English and judges for the Colorado Book Awards. She mentors writers through RMC-SCBWI, Inked Voices, and Julie Hedlund’s 12x12 Challenge.

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Michaele Razi (pronounced mick-el rah-zee) writes and illustrates picture books and graphic novels. Her picture book Drake the Super-Excited, Overeager, In-Your-Face Snake (Little Bigfoot) was a 2024 Washington State Book Award finalist. Her favorite things to write (and read) are silly, funny and slightly naughty characters who get themselves into sticky situations! She lives outside of Seattle with her family and two rascally cats. 

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Genielysse Reyes is an ace-spec Filipino American children's book author and artist from San Diego. She holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University, where she was a proud Lee & Low and Friends scholarship recipient. She’s been previously published in Pomona Valley Review, Intersection Stories, and Mad, Bad, and Broke: An Anthology. In the past few years, she’s received the 2021 NESCBWI Windows and Mirrors Award, an invitation to create with the ICA Boston Art Lab, the 2023 Lee Bennett Hopkins Scholarship for poetry writers from the Highlights Foundation, and a 2024 We Need Diverse Books middle grade mentorship. A lover of show tunes and open mics, Genielysse aims to create heartfelt stories filled with truth, humor, and a dash of Fil-Am magic. When not creating, she is probably giving a well-versed lecture on animated films to someone somewhere. 

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Shifa Saltagi Safadi is the National Book Award Winning author of Kareem Between, the Amina Banana series, and several picture books, including The Gift of Eid. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature, is a former English teacher, and is passionate about spreading her love of reading and writing through school visits and story-times. Shifa was born in Syria and immigrated to the US with her parents as a young girl. She lives near Chicago with her husband and four children.  

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Chuchu is an award-winning illustrator who is initially from China and is now a New York-based freelance illustrator. She earned an MFA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She came to the United States five years ago and first got a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her background includes an Architectural art design degree from Luxun Academy of Fine Arts. Her style is organic and sincere. Her author-illustrator debut RUS AND MOOSE will publish in Fall 2025 with Restless Books. 

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