Nadia L. Hohn is a multilingual, world-travelling, award-winning author of several books for young people, including the Malaika series and A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice. She is an "artivist" who wants to make sure that all young people can see themselves in books. Nadia teaches kids and adults in Toronto. When she is not writing or cooking, Nadia is most likely reading, enjoying music, watching plays or daydreaming about her next adventure. Roza Nozari is a queer illustrator and writer of color. She is most known for her bold designs and diverse depictions of community and is a firm believer that we should all see ourselves meaningfully reflected in art. In her illustrations, she centers those often at the margins of the art world--BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ people, among others. Roza passionately illustrates on topics related to community, mental health and social justice. Through illustration, she envisions a world that is affirming, compassionate and uplifting to all. Roza lives in Tkaronto/Toronto with her partner, their quirky dog named Bones and their bonus kid, Ollie. Andrea L. Rogers is Cherokee. She grew up in Tulsa, OK, but now lives in Fayetteville, AR, where she is enjoying being a student again, spending time outside and wishing she had more time to make art and cookies. Her three wonderful kids are the best things in her life. Her writing for children includes the book Mary and the Trail of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story and the story "The Ballad of Maggie Wilson," which appeared in Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids. She has also written a YA book of scary stories called Man Made Monsters. She believes everyone has a story to tell. Hasani Claxton was an attorney in New York City. When he began to take art classes at night, he realized he really wanted to become an artist. He has always loved science fiction and fantasy but was frustrated by the lack of diversity. This inspired him to start creating stories and art starring people who look like him. When he's not writing, painting, showing his artwork or teaching art at Bowie State University, he is probably reading comics or watching anime. Born in the Boston area to Guatemalan parents, Jennifer de Leon was often asked, "Where are you from?" This question inspired her to write the YA novel Don't Ask Me Where I'm From, about a Latinx teen girl trying to fit in at her new high school. Jenn also loves writing essays and children's books and has won the Juniper Prize for Creative Nonfiction, a Walter Dean Myers grant from We Need Diverse Books, and an International Latino Book Award. When she is not writing, she is presenting at schools across the United States, coaching her son's soccer team or brewing her next cup of coffee. Janice Lynn Mather likes to write, cook and eat. Her first novel, Learning to Breathe, won the 2020 Joan F. Kaywell Books Save Lives Award and was a 2018 Governor General's Literary Award finalist, a BC Book Prize finalist and a 2019 Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. Her second YA novel, Facing the Sun, won the 2021 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award. Her vegan kitchen is crammed with homegrown greens and imported treasures from her Bahamian Jamaican upbringing. Janice Lynn writes and cooks in Tsawwassen, BC. Waubgeshig Rice is an award-winning author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation in Ontario, a community famous for its maple syrup. He has written three fiction books, and his short stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies. He lives in Sudbury, ON, with his wife and children, where they eat pancakes, waffles or French toast every weekend with Wasauksing maple syrup. S.K. Ali the bestselling, award-winning author of several books, is on a mission to write every kind of story she loved reading growing up. After four realistic novels, she's now moved on to writing science fiction and is dreading tackling horror (yikes!) next. She has a degree in creative writing and lives in Toronto with her family, which includes a very vocal cat named Yeti. Bryan Patrick Avery is an award-winning poet and author of more than a dozen books for children. His recent books include Black Men in Science, illustrated by Nikita Leanne, The Freeman Field Photograph, illustrated by Jerome White, and the early chapter book series Mr. Grizley's Class, illustrated by Arief Putra. When he's not writing, Bryan enjoys playing the guitar and piano and going on adventures with his family. Guyanese Canadian author Natasha Deen writes for kids, teens and adults. She believes the world is changed one story at a time and enjoys helping people find and tell the stories that live inside them. When she's not writing, she spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince her pets that she's the boss of the house. Natasha is the author of the Lark Ba Detective series and Thicker Than Water, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Her YA novel In the Key of Nira Ghani won the 2020 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award. Andrea J. Loney grew up in New Jersey and New York, where she spent many happy hours in the busy kitchens of her United States-born grandmother and her Panamanian Jamaican grandmother. She is the author of several fiction and nonfiction books for kids, including Bunnybear, NAACP Image Award-nominated biography Take a Picture of Me, James Van Der Zee!, the Abby in Orbit series and Double Bass Blues, a 2020 Caldecott Honor title. Her poetry is featured in the award-winning anthology No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History. Now Andrea enjoys spending time in her own kitchen in Los Angeles. Linda Sue Park is the author of more than 30 books for young readers, including the Newbery Medal title A Single Shard and the New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water. She travels often to speak about the importance of books, inclusion and equity. In her free time she enjoys cooking, watching movies and sports, playing puzzle games and spending time with her family and friends. Her favorite vacation activity is snorkeling. Danny Ramadan is a Syrian Canadian author who hopes to leave the world better than he found it. He is the author of the series Adventures of Salma, which includes Salma the Syrian Chef (2020) and Salma Makes a Home (2023). Danny enjoys playing video games, reading comics and--sometimes--writing novels. Matthew, Danny's husband, thinks that he is clumsy. Freddie, Danny's dog, thinks that he is clingy. Marty Chan raids his childhood for many of his stories. Growing up as the only Chinese kid in a small Alberta town has given Marty plenty of ideas for his books, which include The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul, Kung Fu Master and Kylie the Magnificent. In his spare time Marty likes to create lightsaber effects in his videos, learn magic tricks and play with his cats, Hugo and Minnie. Reyna Grande was two years old when her father went to the United States from Mexico. She was four when her mother left. Then one day, when Reyna was nine, it was her turn to run across the border. She turned to reading and writing stories as a way to heal from the trauma of immigration and growing up undocumented in California. Now she is the bestselling author of several books, including the memoir The Distance Between Us, published for both adult and young readers. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and the recipient of an International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Award. Reyna loves to cook Mexican food at home for her son and daughter so that they won't ever forget where they come from. Simran Jeet Singh loves reading, running and helping people. He has two young daughters who are way cuter than him. Simran grew up in Texas and now lives in New York City with his family. He teaches and writes for people of all ages. He is the author of two books you might know, the award-winning children's book Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon and the national bestselling book for adults The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life. Ann Yu-Kyung Choi is a Toronto-based author and educator. She immigrated to Canada from South Korea as a child. Her third-grade teacher suggested that Ann write to her to practice her writing skills. Forty-five years later they continue to be pen pals. Ann dedicated her children's picture book, Once Upon An Hour, to that teacher in appreciation of their continued friendship. As an educator, one of the biggest things that excite her is discovering diverse and unique books to share with her students. Two of Ayelet Tsabari's favorite things are stories and food. She believes food can bring us together, that sharing food is a way of showing love, and her favorite room in the house is the kitchen. She's also passionate about books and writing, and sometimes she writes stories that make people hungry. She is the author of The Best Place on Earth and The Art of Leaving and now lives in Tel Aviv with her Israeli Canadian family. Ruth Behar was born in Havana and grew up in Queens, New York. She is a cultural anthropologist as well as an author and writes books for young people about immigration and searching for home. Lucky Broken Girl was inspired by the year she spent in a body cast, and Letters from Cuba by her grandmother's brave journey from Poland to Cuba to save her family on the eve of WWII. In her picture book, Tía Fortuna's New Home, she explores the suitcase of memories all immigrants carry. She enjoys traveling, salsa dancing and being an abuelita. Deidre Havrelock is a First Nations children's author with a big heart for buffalo. She saw her first buffalo at Elk Island National Park in Alberta. And yes, as a child, she had a stuffed animal that looked like a buffalo. Later she started a catering business specializing in bison meat. She even served bison at her own wedding. These days Deidre doesn't eat buffalo as much as she writes about it. Deidre is the author of numerous picture books, including Buffalo Wild! Sarah Raughley is the author of several young adult novels, including The Effigies series and The Bones of Ruin trilogy. She was nominated for the Aurora Award for Best Young Adult Novel and works in the community doing writing workshops for youths and adults. On top of being a YA writer, Sarah has a PhD in English, which makes her a doctor, so it turns out she didn't have to go to medical school after all. Susan Yoon was born in South Korea and grew up in Canada. She believes the best meals involve cake, noodles and great company. She is the author of Waiting for Tomorrow. When she's not writing kids' books, you can find her at her day job writing speeches, in the kitchen baking cookies or going for a run along Lake Ontario. She lives in Toronto. Rahma Mohamed is the award-winning author of Dear Black Child. She is passionate about diversity in children's literature and the power of telling your story. Noticing a lack of diversity in the market for Muslim children's books, and recollecting her own struggles of growing up as an immigrant, she decided to write books featuring Black Muslim characters. As a result, she released her first picture book, Muhiima's Quest, and her second book, Little Brother for Sale.
