ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is a New York Times bestselling author. She is the winner of a National Book Award, Printz Award, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, Pura Belpré Award, Walter Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize, amongst other accolades. Her books include Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths (YesYes, 2016), The Poet X (HarperCollins, 2018), With the Fire on High (HarperCollins, 2019), and Clap When You Land (HarperCollins, 2020).
Acevedo holds a BA in performing arts from the George Washington University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC, with her love. She can be reached on social media platforms @AcevedoWrites.
AMERIE is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, producer, and writer of fiction, as well as the editor of the New York Times bestselling anthology Because You Love to Hate Me. The daughter of a Korean artist and an American military officer, she was born in Massachusetts, was raised all over the world, and graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s in English. She lives mostly in her imagination, but also on Earth with her husband, her son, her parents and sister, and about seven billion other people.
PATRICE CALDWELL is a graduate of Wellesley College and the founder and fundraising chair of People of Color in Publishing—a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members of the book publishing industry. Born and raised in Texas, Patrice was a children’s book editor before shifting to be a literary agent.
In 2018, she was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree and featured on the Writer’s Digest podcast and Bustle’s inaugural “Lit List” as one of ten women changing the book world. Visit her online at patricecaldwell.com, Twitter: @whimsicallyours, Instagram: @whimsicalaquarian.
DHONIELLE CLAYTON is the New York Times bestselling author of the Belles series, and the coauthor of the Tiny Pretty Things series and The Rumor Game. Her short stories have been included in the following anthologies: The Radical Element: 12 Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes & Other Dauntless Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood; Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp; Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet; Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi; Foreshadow edited by Nova Ren Suma and Emily X.R. Pan; and Vampires Never Get Old edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker.
She hails from the Washington, DC, suburbs on the Maryland side. Dhonielle earned an MA in children’s literature from Hollins University and an MFA in writing for children at the New School. Dhonielle taught secondary school for several years and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is COO of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books and cofounder of CAKE Literary, a creative kitchen whipping up decadent—and decidedly diverse—literary confections for middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction readers. Dhonielle is an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief. You can find her lurking online @brownbookworm on the Twitterverse and Instagram.
After years of working in apparel and home furnishings, J. MARCELLE CORRIE is now a marketing professional in publishing. She writes young adult science fiction featuring people of her community and beyond. When she isn’t writing or working, you can find her at bookish events across New York City. Visit her website at jmarcellecorrie.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @jmarcellecorrie.
SOMAIYA DAUD was born in a Midwestern city and spent a large part of her childhood and adolescence moving around. Like most writers, she started when she was young and never really stopped. Her love of all things books propelled her to get a degree in English literature (specializing in the medieval and early modern), and while she worked on her master’s degree she doubled as a bookseller at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC, in their children’s department. Determined to remain in school for as long as possible, she packed her bags in 2014 and moved to the West Coast to pursue a doctoral degree in English literature. Now she’s writing a dissertation on Victorians, race, and theories of translation and world literature. Her debut novel, Mirage, was shortlisted for the Children’s Africana Book Award and received starred reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal. You can find her on Twitter @SomaiyaDaud.
CHARLOTTE NICOLE DAVIS is the author of The Good Luck Girls, a young adult fantasy novel released in fall 2019 with Tor Teen. A graduate of the New School’s writing for children MFA program, Charlotte loves comic book movies and books with maps in the front. She currently lives in Brooklyn with a cat with a crooked tail. Twitter: @charlottendavis; Instagram: @cndwrites.
ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON is the author of seven novels for adults and young adults. Her most recent novel for adults, Trouble the Saints, was released in spring 2020 from Tor books. Her young adult novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, while her novel Love Is the Drug won the Nebula Award for Middle Grade/Young Adult fiction. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, Feral Youth, Three Sides of a Heart, and Zombies vs. Unicorns. She has won two Nebula awards, the Cybils Award, and been nominated for the Indies Choice Award and Locus Award. She lives in Mexico City, where she has recently completed her master’s degree in Mesoamerican studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
JUSTINA IRELAND is the author of Dread Nation, a New York Times bestseller and an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten selection. Her other books for children and teens include Vengeance Bound, Promise of Shadows, and the Star Wars novel Lando’s Luck. She enjoys dark chocolate and dark humor and is not too proud to admit that she’s still afraid of the dark. She lives with her husband, kid, dog, and cats in Maryland. You can visit her online at justinaireland.com.
DANNY LORE (they/them) is a queer Black writer/editor raised in Harlem and currently based in the Bronx. They’ve worked in comic and gaming shops since the beginning of time. They’ve had their short fiction published by FIYAH, Podcastle, Fireside, Nightlight, EFNIKS.com, and more. Their comics work includes Queen of Bad Dreams for Vault Comics, Quarter Killer for Comixology, and James Bond for Dynamite Comics in December 2019. They have short comics in Dead Beats and The Good Fight. They edited The Good Fight anthology and The Wilds (Black Mask comics). They live with their amazing wife and doubly amazing cat.
LEATRICE “ELLE” McKINNEY, writing as L.L. McKinney, is a poet and active member of the kidlit community. She’s an advocate for equality and inclusion in publishing and the creator of the hashtag #WhatWoCWritersHear.
Elle’s also a gamer, Blerd, and adamant Hei Hei stan. She spends her free time plagued by her cat—Sir Chester Fluffmire Boopsnoot Purrington Wigglebottom Flooferson III, Esquire, Baron o’ Butterscotch, or #SirChester for short. The critically acclaimed A Blade So Black is her debut novel, and A Dream So Dark is its sequel. Find her on Twitter @ElleOnWords, Instagram @ll_mckinney, and Facebook at ElleOnWords. Learn more about her by visiting her website, llmckinney.com.