Bianca Xunise (they/them) is an illustrator, writer, and educator based out of Chicago, Illinois. With two Ignatz Awards under their belt, Bianca enjoys being a voice for those who march to the beat of their own drum and hopes that their comics are comforting to those who feel like they don’t fit in. In 2020, Bianca became the first nationally syndicated non-binary cartoonist when they joined thecomic strip Six Chix in 2020 as their first Black creator. In April 2024, their graphic novel Punk Rock Karaoke (Penguin Teen) debuted with rave reviews. “…a gripping narrative, relatable situations, and evocative artwork with an aesthetic that oozes with late-1970s zine flair.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review

Self-Identifiers: African-American; Queer; Woman-Focused; Punk

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Cornelius Van Wright is an award-winning children’s book illustrator, an author, and an art instructor. He has illustrated numerous picture books, many of which he co-illustrated with his wife, Ying Hwa-Hu. His work has appeared on Reading Rainbow and Storytime and has been exhibited in Bologna Book Fair and the Society of Illustrators. Cornelius’ authored-illustrated picture books have garnered praise from The Horn Book, Kirkus Review, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and many others. Cornelius also teaches at Fred Dolan Art Academy. His students have attended and graduated from many top art colleges in the country. Cornelius lives with his wife in New York City.

Self-Identifiers: African-American

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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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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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Sean Rubin was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a city kid, he entertained himself by collecting interesting things, learning about unusual subjects, and by drawing characters from books, especially Redwall and The Lord of the Rings. Bolivar, the first book Sean both wrote and illustrated, received three starred reviews, and was nominated for an Eisner award, an ELG, and a Ringo award.

Self-Identifiers: Jewish; New York City; Rural

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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 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 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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Andy Chou Musser makes books for kids. He is the author and illustrator of the picture book A Home Under the Stars, co-creator of the picture book Papilio with Ben Clanton and Corey R. Tabor, and co-creator of two series for young readers: Science Explorers with Amy Seto Forrester and Ploof with Ben Clanton. Andy lives in Seattle with his partner and two cats.

Self-Identifiers: Chinese-American; Asian-American; Mixed-Race; POC; AAHIPI 

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Robert Liu-Trujillo is an author and illustrator whose storytelling and vibrant visual art reflect his cultural heritage and dedication to social justice. His work explores themes of identity, history, family, mixed heritage, literacy, and agency. Robert is a life long Bay Area resident. Born in Oakland, California, he’s the child of student activists who watched lots of science fiction and took him to many demonstrations. Always drawing, Rob grew up to be an artist falling in love with graffiti, fine art, illustration, murals, and children’s books. In that order, sort of. Through storytelling he’s been able to scratch the surface of so many untold stories.

Self-Identifiers: African-American; Mexican or Latino; Korean or Asian; Apache or Native-American; Mixed Heritage

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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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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 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 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 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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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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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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Sage Coffey is a trans non-binary cartoonist living in Chicago, Illinois, who is best known as the creator of Wine Ghost, for their work on the GLAAD award nominated video game BUGSNAX, and as the illustrator on one of Vulture’s funniest books of 2021, I Am Not a Wolf. Since 2016, they’ve edited the Ignatz award nominated anthology Sweaty Palms, a comic anthology about anxiety and have helped organize Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) since 2019. Clients include: Design Museum of Chicago Millie Magazine, We Testify, Cards Against Humanity, The American Independent, and more.

Self-Identifiers: Trans; Nonbinary; LGBTQIA+

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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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Nico Bocalan (or Nico or skelehime) is a horror cartoonist working on her first full-length horror graphic novel. She enjoys horror movies, books, junk food, coding, and biking at a leisurely pace.

Self-Identifiers: Filipino; Queer; Woman

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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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