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Author / Illustrator

Kelly and Nichole Matthews are a twin art team making a living in the Emerald City. They have brought to life many stories and worlds, including a magic treehouse, a little mermaid under the sea, the world of Thra, a young boy lost in time, and many more.
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Brenna Burns Yu

Illustrator

Brenna Burns Yu (she/they) is the author and illustrator of two Hazel and Twig books published by Candlewick Press. Brenna has an MFA from the Fiber Department of Cranbrook Academy of Art, and their artistic practice continues to be shaped by their love of fabric, paper, and patterns. Brenna works ink, pencil, watercolor, and gouache, and they love to see visible traces of the art-making process in their finished work. Brenna also brings their love for nature and early scientific exploration to libraries, leading art activities based on the Hazel and Twig books.


Self-Identifiers: Non-binary; LGBTQIA + Family

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Wendy Xu

Illustrator

Wendy Xu is a bestselling, award-nominated Brooklyn-based illustrator and comics artist. She is the creator of Infinity Particle (2023, HarperCollins), Tidesong (2021 HarperCollins), and the co-creator of Mooncakes, a young adult fantasy graphic novel published in 2019 from Oni Press. Her work has been featured on Catapult, Barnes & Noble Sci-fi/Fantasy Blog, and Tor.com, among other places.


Self-Identifiers: Chinese; Queer

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Ashley Wong

Illustrator

Ashley Wong is a freelance illustrator and designer based in Hamilton, Ontario. She works with embroidery floss (and sometimes ink and paint, too!) to create warm and fuzzy images. Her work draws inspiration from delicious meals with loved ones and the changing of seasons.


Self-Identifiers: Chinese-Canadian; Bisexual

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Hannah Vardit

Illustrator

Hannah Vardit is a Minnesotan living in Brooklyn, NY. She has worked for publishers such as Marvel and Boom! Studios, but is better known for her self-published work.
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Morgan Thompson

Illustrator

An old vagabond that loves a good story, Morgan Thompson is a Cherokee artist that loves telling stories. She is Keetoowah Cherokee with membership in Cherokee Nation and comes from the Cherokee Nation Reservation in Northeastern Oklahoma. When not drawing, you can find her writing, and when she isn’t writing you can find her beading. She has a deep love for her Cherokee community and telling Indigenous stories to a wider audience.


Self-Identifiers: Indigenous; Native American; Cherokee; First American

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Jennifer Thermes

Illustrator

Jennifer Thermes is an award-winning children’s book author-illustrator and map illustrator. Her nonfiction picture book The Indestructible Tom Crean recently received the Bank Street College of Education’s 2024 Flora Stieglitz Straus Award in the Younger Reader category and is an ALSC Notable Children’s Book. Both Tom Crean and her book A Place Called America were named to the Kirkus Best Picture Books of 2023 list. Jennifer is fascinated by big-picture ideas that span history, adventure, and the natural world, and weaves maps throughout her stories to explore new places and visualize how the past connects to our lives today.
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Danie Stirling

Illustrator

Danie Stirling is the creator of webcomic-turned-graphic novel Crumbs (Clarion Books) and the upcoming graphic novel, Trove (Clarion Books). Based in Atlantic Canada, they check the weather forecast far too often for someone whose plans typically consist of staying inside to read a stack of manga.
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Elizabeth Schoonmaker

Illustrator

Elizabeth Schoonmaker is an artist, illustrator, writer, designer and picture book author of Square Cat and Square Cat ABC. Elizabeth’s work is community based with roadside attractions, nursing home portraits, oral interviews, and interactive sculptures. Elizabeth lives in the Town of Plainfield, in Upstate New York.
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Amy Schimler-Safford

Illustrator

Amy Schimler-Safford has had an impressive career as a textile designer and children’s illustrator for over two decades. Her children’s book illustrations have been well reviewed and award-winning. In 2010 “Why is the Sky Blue?” was paired with an Eric Carle title for Booktrust.org’s book bag program. Over 700,00 book bags were distributed to first year students throughout the UK. Some very generous words used to describe her work: “glimmering”, “lavish”, “vibrant”, “gorgeous”, “magical”, “lush”, “amazing”, “breathtaking”, “gloriously colorful”, “dreamlike”, “luminous”, “dynamic”, “engaging’, “skillful”, “alluring” and a “celebration of observation”.
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Stephanie Rodríguez

Illustrator

Stephanie Rodriguez, a Bronx-born published author-illustrator, made waves with her debut middle-grade graphic novel, Doodles from the Boogie Down. This semi-autobiographical gem follows a young Dominican girl who navigates middle school, her strict mother, shifting friendships, and her dream of being an artist. Stephanie is also a Character Designer, contributing her talent to animated series in development. Her passion for authentic storytelling, rooted in her experiences as a first-generation Dominican American, drives her artistic endeavors. Based in LA, she is forging her path in TV Animation while maintaining her presence in the publishing world.


Self-Identifiers: Latina; Caribbean Latino; New Yorker; Urban; Femme

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Jennifer Black Reinhardt

Illustrator

Jennifer Black Reinhardt is the author and illustrator of several acclaimed books for children, including Always by My Side: A Stuffie Story, Playing Possum, and Blue Ethel. She illustrated Gondra’s Treasure and Yaks Yak, both written by Newbery award winner Linda Sue Park, as well as illustrating Sometimes You Fly by Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate, to name a few. Her books have received many starred reviews and been selected for recommended lists. Jennifer joyfully creates picture books from her comfortably cluttered studio in her Iowa City, Iowa home.


Self-Identifiers: Woman

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Alice Ratterree

Illustrator

Alice Ratterree is an illustrator for young audiences based in Greenville, South Carolina. She began her career in music, as a classically trained singer working in operatic, concert, and oratorio venues. Alice’s work has appeared in the children’s book publishing market, magazines, newspapers, numerous hospitals, and schools, and even in the Cannon Tunnel of the United States Capitol.
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Daria Peoples

Illustrator

Daria Peoples earned a BA in English at UC Santa Barbara, California, where she found herself shelving books at the library and reading many notable writers. Daria’s debut picture book, This is It was published by Greenwillow/HarperCollins in 2018, she has then illustrated many other children’s books, which can be found on her website.


Self-Identifiers: Black; Cuban; Female

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Hillary Moore

Illustrator

Hillary Moore is an artist and illustrator whose artwork is inspired by whimsical elements of nature and the wonder of a child’s perspective. Working in watercolor and gouache, she enjoys playing with layered realities and scale. Her imagery often features characters who are exploring and finding joy in the world around them. Hillary lives in Seattle, Washington where she has plenty of chances to explore mountains, tide pools, and rainforests and gather inspiration from her own two kids who are wildly imaginative.


Self-Identifiers: Mixed Race; Asian-American; Femme; Parent

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Madeline McGrane

Illustrator

Madeline McGrane is a cartoonist and illustrator. She is the author and illustrator of The Accursed Vampire and its sequel The Accursed Vampire #2: The Curse at Witch Camp. She has created illustrations and comics for various clients on topics ranging from superheroes to renewable energy, in her spare time she self-publishes zines. Madeline lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Kiku Hughes

Illustrator

Kiku Hughes is a Yonsei cartoonist based in the Seattle area. Her first graphic novel, Displacement, was published by First Second in 2020 and was an APALA Literature Award honor title and an Eisner Award nominee. Her work explores themes of identity, queer romance, soft sci-fi, and anti-capitalist futures.


Self-Identifiers: Japanese-American (Nikkei); Asian-American; Mixed Race; Lesbian

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Ying-Hwa Hu

Illustrator

Ying-Hwa Hu is an educator, picture book author, and illustrator. She has worked solo as well as collaborated with her husband, Cornelius Van Wright, for over 50 books. Her debut author/illustrator book Ten Blocks To the Big Wok was selected as Best Books for NYPL, CPL, Bank Street Books, and won Delaware Library Association Blue Hen Book Award, and the Mathical Books Honor Award. Ying-Hwa teaches at Fred Dolan Art Academy and helps young artists in the Bronx community to enter art colleges. Her students have attended and graduated from many top art colleges in the country. Ying-Hwa lives with her husband in New York City.


Self-Identifiers: AAPI

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Paige Hender

Illustrator

Paige Hender is responsible for upcoming graphic novels from Silver Sprocket and Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. With toes in both the adult and young adult markets, she seeks to bring mature stories to young readers and whimsical tales to grown-ups. Hopefully her corrupting influence will inspire a generation of horror fans. Hender was born in Ottawa, Ontario and currently resides in Louisiana.
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Kayla Harren

Illustrator

Kayla Harren graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City with a BFA in illustration. She has illustrated Calvin, winner of the 2022 Lambda Literary Award; A Boy Like You, winner of the 2019 EUREKA Gold Award; The Boy Who Grew a Forest, winner of the 2020 Crystal Kite Award; and Thursday, featured in the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show.
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Shelley Hanmo

Illustrator

Shelley Hanmo is a concert pianist, self-taught illustrator, and storyteller. As someone who is passionate about the paper art medium, Shelley loves exploring different possibilities of colors, shapes, layers, and textures in pieces of paper. Shelley’s artistic inspirations often come from her life experience as a woman of color, immigrant, professional musician, as well as her love for nature and conservation. In addition, Shelley is actively teaching paper art workshops across the US, recent workshops including at Brooklyn Art Library, Indianapolis Zoo, Indianapolis Public Library, Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, and Garfield Park Arts Center.


Self-Identifiers: Immigrant; Asian; East Asian; BIPOC; Minority

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Rosa Colón Guerra

Illustrator

Rosa Colón Guerra is an illustrator and comic artist working in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her nonfiction comics have been featured in The Believer, The Lily, and various indie anthologies. Her work for The Nib featuring Puerto Rico’s current events and culture is featured in the Ignatz winner Be Gay, Do Comics!. Rosa also collaborated in the Eisner winner Puerto Rico Strong anthology. She has worked for local government and nonprofits illustrating children’s books that focus on representation and social cause. In order to nurture the comic and illustration scene in Puerto Rico, she co-organizes Tintero, a comic and art festival focusing on local talent.


Self-Identifiers: Puerto Rican; Latinx; Caribbean; LGBTQ+

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Melissa Gardner

Illustrator

Melissa Gardner is an adolescent psychotherapist turned author/illustrator who now lives in the rainy forest outside Eugene, Oregon. Her style is a blend of traditional and digital media, with a focus on natural beauty, tender emotions, and a dash of magic. When she’s not drawing, she’s often snuggling with her three dogs, hanging out with her family, or coming up with recipes that remind her of childhood.


Self-Identifiers: Neurodivergent; LGBTQIA+

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Kat Fajardo

Illustrator

Kat Fajardo (they/she) is a Honduran Colombian award-winning cartoonist and illustrator from the lively and magical place of Loisaida, New York City. They are the creator of Miss Quinces, which was a National Indie Bestseller, received a Pura Belpré Honor for illustration, two starred reviews, and was selected as a summer reading pick by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, The Horn Book, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.


Self-Identifiers: Latine; Latinx; Honduran; Colombian; Queer

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Sarah Dvojack

Illustrator

Sarah Dvojack was born and raised in Washington State and graduated from Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts with a degree in graphic design, she went on to study in the School of Visual Arts’ MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program. She is the author-illustrator of Welcome to Fear City and Rosie the Riveter, and the illustrator of Ruby’s Hope (Junior Library Guild Selection) and Madame Alexander (Junior Library Guild Selection; Sydney Taylor Notable Picture Book). After a decade in New York City, she now lives with her partner and cats in that bastion of American horror and children’s books, Maine, and works as a book designer.
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Lauren Dimaya

Illustrator

Lauren Dimaya is a tiny, queer Filipino-American illustrator with a big heart for magical stories. She has drawn for Studio Drydock’s Wylde Flowers, produced an online course on visual storytelling, and is currently illustrating Remy Lai’s YA graphic novel, The Demon’s Prince. Inspired by her heritage and its mythology, Lauren’s dream is to bring relatable queer Filipino narratives into the graphic novel world. Outside of drawing, she can be found in NYC museum-hopping or nervously roller skating.


Self-Identifiers: Filipino; Asian-American; Pacific Islander; Queer; LGBTQIA+

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J de laVega

Illustrator

J de laVega is an author-illustrator of Puerto Rican ancestry who thrives on color and texture. She enjoys translating complex topics into art children can understand. Her debut book, Wepa!, was published by Lil’ Libros in 2023.


Self-Identifiers: Afro-Latina; Hispanic; Female

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Sarah Davis

Illustrator

Sarah Davis is an award-winning illustrator, concept artist, and book designer working in publishing, film, and animation. She has illustrated more than 50 books and has 4+ years experience working in-house as Associate Art Director at Walker Books Australia, where she had the privilege of collaborating with some of Australia’s finest picture-book authors and illustrators. Her own illustration work is fueled by a restless creativity and inspired by a love of literature and narrative. With each project she experiments with new ways to tell visual tales, working across an eclectic range of media – paint, ink, pencil, collage, photography, and digital 3D sculpture.
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Pat Cummings

Illustrator

Pat Cummings is the author and/or illustrator of over 40 books. Pat’s children’s book courses at Pratt Institute and Parsons boast a growing number of award-winning children’s book creators. Pat serves on the Advisory Council of SCBWI, the Boards of the Authors Guild, the Authors League Fund, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, and as Chair of the Founders Award Jury for the Society of Illustrators’ annual Original Art Show. Her latest books include her debut middle grade novel, Trace, from HarperCollins and Where is Mommy?, a picture book from Holiday House.


Self-Identifiers: International; African-American; Multi-cultural; Female; New York

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Nina Crews

Illustrator

Nina Crews is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator of picture books for children from Pre-K through 3rd grade. Her titles include One Hot Summer Day, I’m Not Small, Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change, A Girl Like Me, The Neighborhood Mother Goose, Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright, and Extraordinary Magic: The Storytelling Life of Virginia Hamilton. While she is known for her distinctive photo collage style, Nina has put her camera aside to create digitally rendered and collaged illustrations in her latest projects. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son.


Self-Identifiers: African-American

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Alice Chu

Illustrator

Alice Chu is an illustrator, cartoonist, and creator of the all-ages webcomic series, Kiri. She also writes semi-autobiographical comics as @comicsbyalice. In her free time, she enjoys crafting, watching wholesome British reality shows, and gardening very badly.


Self-Identifiers: Asian-American; Taiwanese

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Jade Zhang

Illustrator

Jade Zhang is a queer Chinese-Canadian illustrator and comic artist based in Toronto. She tells stories about magic, memory, and the occasional eldritch horror. Jade is the illustrator for Ghost Circus (2025) and author of “How to Survive a Haunting,” a horror short about a family that becomes its own monsters published with the Ignatz award-winning Shades of Fear anthology. She also wrote “I’m Stuck in Retrograde,” an autobiographical fabulism comic about a staircase that brings a traveller’s memories to life around them.


Self-Identifiers: Queer; First Generation Chinese-Canadian

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Alina Chau

Illustrator

Alina Chau 周曉芬 is an accomplished author and illustrator who has made significant contributions to the animation and gaming industries. Her debut graphic novel, Marshmallow and Jordan, won multiple awards, including the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Award and the Sakura Medal for Best Middle-Grade Graphic Novel in Japan in 2023. Her other highly acclaimed children’s picture books include The Rise (And Falls) of Jackie Chan, Lunar New Year, In the Spirit of a Dream, and the APALA Picture Book Honor, The Nian Monster. Alina’s work is inspirational and imaginative, a testament to the power of creativity and the importance of embracing diverse perspectives.


Self-Identifiers: First-Generation Asian-American; Indonesian-Chinese; Chinese; Multicultural; International

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Léa Charbonnier

Illustrator

Léa Charbonnier is a French illustrator based in Berlin. She began her career in graphic design before succumbing to her love of books, graphic novels, and stories, and transitioning full-time into literary illustration. After illustrating over 15 book covers, small comics, and other marketing pieces for authors and companies such as Alison Cochrun, Adam Sass, Justine Pucella Winans, T.J. Klune for Edition Bookmarks, and more, she’s decided to work on THEY NEED A VILLAIN, her first full-length graphic novel.


Self-Identifiers: LGBTQIA+

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Alexis Castellanos

Illustrator

Alexis Castellanos is the author of Guava and Grudges (Bloomsbury) and Isla to Island (Simon & Schuster), an Eisner-nominated and award-winning graphic novel. Born in Miami, Florida, she studied theatre design and technology in college and landed in New York City after graduation working as a scenic artist before transitioning into publishing as a graphic designer. When she’s not working she can be found tackling a new sewing project, playing D&D, or cooking up a storm. For now she’s calling Los Angeles home, where she lives with her partner and two spoiled cats.


Self-Identifiers: Cuban-American

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Megan Brennan

Illustrator

Megan Brennan is a comics artist and author in Brooklyn, New York. Her goofy, exuberant comics are influenced by shoujo manga, newspaper comics, and the absurd. Her debut solo graphic novel, Magic Girls 1: Kira and the (Maybe) Space Princess, was published by Random House Graphic in 2024. She’s also written multiple Amazing World of Gumball graphic novels published by Boom! Studios in addition to self-publishing comics on the web and in print. Megan has also been an art/production assistant for various graphic novels, including Drama, Teen Boat, Amulet, and The Adventure Zone: Here Be Gerblins.
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Carin Bramsen

Illustrator

Carin Bramsen is a children’s book author and illustrator. Her Duck and Cat series includes: Duck and Cat’s Rainy Day (2020) for early readers, and the picture books Sleepover Duck! (2018), Just a Duck? (2015), and Hey, Duck! (2013). She also illustrated The Yellow Tutu (2009), written by Kirsten Bramsen. Raised near the foothills of Colorado, she can’t help but add hills to the backgrounds of her pictures. But she does it from her apartment in Brooklyn, New York.
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Brooke Boynton Hughes

Illustrator

Brooke Boynton-Hughes is the illustrator and author of Brave Molly and Heart String and the illustrator of several other books for children including Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton, His Fairy Tale Life by Jane Yolen, Henry Wants More! by Linda Ashman, and Where’s My Turtle? by Barbara Bottner. Brooke is the recipient of two portfolio honor awards from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, as well as the recipient of the SCBWI Don Freeman Memorial grant and the SCBWI Mentorship Award. Brooke lives in Colorado with her husband and three children and creates her illustrations using watercolor, pen and ink, graphite, and colored pencil.
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Sophie Blackall

Illustrator

Sophie Blackall, AM is an award-winning illustrator of over 55 books for children, including the New York Times best-selling Ivy and Bean series, the 2016 Caldecott Medal winner, Finding Winnie and the 2019 Caldecott Medal winner, Hello Lighthouse, which she also wrote. She is the five-time recipient of The New York Times Best Illustrated Picture Book Award and has worked with UNICEF and Save the Children, UK on global health and literacy initiatives. Originally from Australia, she now splits her time between Brooklyn, New York, and the Catskill Mountains, where she and her husband run a retreat for the children’s book community called Milkwood Farm.

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Rachelle Baker

Illustrator

Rachelle Baker (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist and illustrator from Detroit, Michigan, known for her illustrative style and beautifully crafted digital paintings. Her works are cultural infusionsof women, Shoujo Manga, anime, early 2000’s R&B music videos, and everyday elements that inspire her. Published books include: Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream by Blair Imani (Ten Speed Press), the NYT bestseller, Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X Kendi and Jason Reynolds (Little, Brown Young Readers), and the recent release Show Up & Vote by Ani DiFranco (Rise x Penguin Random House).


Self-Identifiers: Black/African American; LGBTQIA+; Midwesterner

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Selina Alko

Illustrator

Selina Alko is an award-winning writer-illustrator, who spends her days melding words and mixed-media art to convey stories of hope and inspiration—as well as an alternative viewpoint. Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a Turkish-Jewish father who spoke seven languages and taught painting, and a Jewish mother who worked in the family’s century-old metal recycling business, she was surrounded by the melody of words and stories from different places and varied visual possibilities.


Self-Identifiers: Jewish (Ashkenazic and Sephardic); Canadian-born and raised; Brooklynite

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