Duncan

Violet Duncan is Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewin Cree Nation. As an accomplished author, educator, dancer, and storyteller, she has toured both nationally and internationally, sharing her talents and promoting wellness and cultural education across the US, Canada, and Europe. After becoming a mother of four and seeing the need for greater Native representation […]
Egawa

Chenoa Egawa is Coast Salish of the Lummi and S’Klallam Nations of Washington State. She is a published author and illustrator of the children’s chapter book The Whale Child in partnership with her brother, Keith Egawa (2020). Prior to The Whale Child, Chenoa and Keith self-published their first illustrated children’s book, Tani’s Search for the […]
The Beautiful & Banned

Christine Renee Miller fancies herself an expert. Perhaps it’s because she always seems to play one on screen. You can see her recurring on the CBS hit show, Blue Bloods as the snarky M.E. who constantly schools Donny Wahlberg. She also stars opposite Jim Parsons as the head cancer nurse in the Michael Showalter feature […]
Francis-Sharma

Lauren Francis-Sharma is the author of both Book of the Little Axe, the 2020 American Library Association’s “Libraries Transform Book Pick” and finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction, as well as her 2014 debut novel, ‘Til the Well Runs Dry, which was chosen as an O, The Oprah Magazine Summer Reading Pick and awarded […]
Chan

Michelle Jing Chan is a queer Chinese American author-illustrator who grew up in Colorado and now lives in the Pacific Northwest. Although her education is in engineering and economics, her heart has always been in storytelling. Ever since she could hold a pencil, Michelle has been scribbling her daydreams to life. Now she spends her […]
Shannon Smith

Nikki Shannon Smith is an educator, presenter, and the award-winning author of over 20 published and forthcoming books, ranging from board books to young adult novels. She is the author of the Azaleah Lane chapter book series (Capstone) as well as the board book series Brown Baby Parade (PRH/Crown). Nikki’s work includes two Little Golden […]
La Tray

Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. His third book, Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, was published by Milkweed Editions on August 20, 2024. His first […]
Moore

Edward Kelsey Moore is the author of the New York Times and international bestselling novel The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat and a second Supremes novel, The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues. The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat was chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and was also named an Illinois […]
Fuentes

Marcela Fuentes is a Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer and essayist. Her essays and stories have appeared in Texas Highways Magazine, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and other journals. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (MFA) and Georgia State University (PhD). She was the 2016-2017 James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for […]
Sawyerr

Hannah V. Sawyerr is a Sierra Leonean-American writer with a passion for people and storytelling. For Hannah’s literary and community involvement, she was recognized as the 2016 Youth Poet Laureate of Baltimore. Her spoken word poetry has been featured on the British Broadcasting Channel’s (BBC) “World Have Your Say” program, as well as the National […]