Alexandra Diaz is the author of three novels for young adults, including Of All the Stupid Things, which was an American Library Association Rainbow List book. She teaches creative writing to adults and teens.

Mimi Thebo is an American who lives, writes, and works in the UK. She's had seven books published in ten years, and her work has been adapted for a BAFTA-winning film by the BBC, iilustrated in light on London's South Bank, signed for deaf children on ITV, and extensively translated.

Kekla Magoon is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award-winning author of YA novels The Rock and the River, Camo Girl, and 37 Things I Love. Author of historical nonfiction for teens, she is a three-time NAACP Image Award nominee, and she serves on the board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

Michele Corriel is the author of two middle grade novels as well as a nonfiction picture book, Weird Rocks. She is a freelance art writer, working with regional and national publications, and she conducts writing workshops and is a Regional Adviser for SCBWI.

Mindy Hardwick is the author of the middle grade novel, Stained Glass Summer, and a young adult novel, Weaving Magic. She is listed on the Washington State Arts Commission Teaching Artist Roster and facilitates a poetry workshop with teens in juvenile detention.