Lilliam Rivera is a 2013 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow. Her writing has appeared in Midnight Breakfast, Bellevue Literary Review, the Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, Lunch Ticket, and Latina, among others. Lilliam is represented by Eddie Schneider of JABberwocky Literary Agency.

Cecil Castellucci is the award-winning author of books and graphic novels for young adults including Boy Proof, The Plain Janes, The Year of the Beasts, and Odd Duck. She is YA editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, children’s correspondence coordinator for the Rumpus, and a two time MacDowell fellow. 

Meg Medina writes picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction that examines how cultures intersect through the eyes of young people. She is the 2014 recipient of the Pura Belpré medal and the 2013 CYBILS fiction award for her young adult novel, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass.

Swati Avasthi is the author of two novels: Split, which received multiple awards, and Chasing Shadows, which made numerous "best of the year" lists. She teaches at Hamline University in the Creative Writing Programs and is co-curator of the Loft Literary Center's Second Story Reading Series.

Matt de la Peña is the author of five critically-acclaimed young adult novels, including Mexican WhiteBoy and The Living.