Our Story Begins

Elissa Brent Weissman is the award-winning author of several middle grade novels, including the Nerd Camp series, and the editor of Our Story Begins, an anthology of writing and art by today’s kids’ book creators back when they were kids themselves. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and earned a Master’s degree in children’s literature at Roehampton University in London. Named one of CBS Baltimore’s Best Authors in Maryland, Elissa lives with her family in Baltimore, where she teaches creative writing to children, college students, and adults.

Kwame Alexander is a poet, an educator, a New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one books, and recipient of the Newbery Medal for his novel The Crossover. The founder of two organizations, Book-in-a-Day and LEAP for Ghana, he regularly travels the world as a literacy advocate and expert. Kwame has owned several publishing companies, written for stage and TV (TLC’s “Hip Hop Harry”), recorded a CD, produced jazz and book festivals, hosted a radio show, and taught high school English. In 2015, Kwame served as Bank Street College of Education’s first writer-in-residence.

Tom Angleberger is the best-selling author of the Origami Yoda books. He lives in Virginia with his wife, Cece Bell, and family.

Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honoree, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award-winning, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the National Book Award finalist The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Maybe a Fox (with Alison McGhee), Keeper, and many picture books including Counting Crows and Max Attacks. She has two grown children and lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband. Visit her at KathiAppelt.com.

Ashley Bryan grew up to the sound of his mother singing from morning to night, and he has shared the joy of song with children ever since. A beloved illustrator, he was recently named a Newbery Honoree for his picture book, Freedom Over Me. He has also been the recipient of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award; the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; has been a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer; a Coretta Scott King Award winner; and the recipient of countless other awards and recognitions. His books include Freedom Over Me; Sail Away; Beautiful Blackbird; Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum; Let It Shine; Ashley Bryan’s Book of Puppets; and What a Wonderful World. He lives in Islesford, one of the Cranberry Isles off the coast of Maine.

Tim Federle is “a prolific scribe whose breezy wit isn’t bound to a single genre” (Huffington Post). Tim’s award-winning novels include The New York Times Notable Books The Great American Whatever and the Nate series–which Lin-Manuel Miranda called “a wonderful evocation of what it’s like to be a theater kid.” Tim cowrote both the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Tuck Everlasting, and the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Best Animated Feature Ferdinand, starring John Cena and Kate McKinnon. A native of San Francisco who grew up in Pittsburgh, Tim now divides his time between New York and the internet (@TimFederle).

Candace Fleming is the prolific author of The Family Romanov, a Sibert Honor Book and the recipient of both the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Young Adult Literature; Amelia Lost, which received four starred reviews; and The Great and Only Barnum, a YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction nominee and a Publishers Weekly and Booklist Best Book. She is also the author of many highly acclaimed picture books, including Oh, No!, illustrated by Eric Rohmann, and middle grade, including The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School. Visit her on the web at candacefleming.com or on Twitter: @candacemfleming.

Marla Frazee was awarded a Caldecott Honor for All the World and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, and the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Picture Book for her wordless book The Farmer and the Clown. She is the author-illustrator of many books, including The Boss Baby, the book that inspired the DreamWorks Animation film Boss Baby. She has illustrated many acclaimed picture books, including God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant; Stars by Mary Lyn Ray; and Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers. She is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Clementine chapter book series by Sara Pennypacker. The mother of three grown sons, she lives in Pasadena, California.

Chris Gall is the award-winning author and illustrator of Dinotrux, which inspired a Netflix original TV series, and other books in the series, including Dinotrux Dig the Beach and Revenge of the Dinotrux. His other picture books include Nanobots, Dog vs. Cat, Awesome Dawson, Substitute Creacher, and America the Beautiful. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Chris Grabenstein is the author of the New York Times bestselling Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, The Island of Dr. Libris, and the Welcome to Wonderland series. He is also the coauthor of several bestselling series with James Patterson, including I Funny, Treasure Hunters, House of Robots, and Jackie Ha Ha. Chris lives in New York City with his wife, JJ, two cats, and a dog named Fred. Visit him online at chrisgrabenstein.com, and follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @cgrabenstein. Don’t miss the third Lemoncello adventure, Mr. Lemoncello’s Great Library Race, coming in October 2017!

Gordon Korman published his first book at age fourteen and since then has written more than ninety middle grade and teen novels. Favorites include the New York Times bestselling Ungifted, Supergifted, The Unteachables, Pop, Schooled, and the Masterminds series. Gordon lives with his family on Long Island, New York. You can visit him online at www.gordonkorman.com.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is the author and illustrator of Punk Farm, Peanut Butter and Jellyfish, and Baghead, among numerous other picture books, as well as the popular Lunch Lady graphic novel series. He lives with his family and a pug named Ralph Macchio in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Thanhhà Lai is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Inside Out & Back Again, her debut novel in verse, which won both a National Book Award and a Newbery Honor, and the acclaimed Listen, Slowly, which was named to numerous best book of the year lists. She was born in Viêt Nam and now lives in New York with her family. To learn more about Thanhhà and her charity, Viet Kids Inc., visit www.thanhhalai.com.

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than one hundred and sixty books, which have sold more than five and half million copies and been translated into thirty-three different languages. These include the first four books in the New York Times bestselling Seven Wonders series, The Colossus Rises, Lost in Babylon, The Tomb of Shadows, and The Curse of the King, and two books in the 39 Clues series. Peter is a Harvard graduate with a degree in biochemistry. He has run a marathon and gone rock climbing during an earthquake—though not on the same day. He lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, and their two sons, Nick and Joe. In his spare time, he likes to eat chocolate.

Gail Carson Levine’s first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a Newbery Honor Book. Levine’s other books include Ever, a New York Times bestseller; Fairest, a Best Book of the Year for Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, and a New York Times bestseller; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; A Tale of Two Castles; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction books Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and Writer to Writer: From Think to Ink, as well as the picture books Betsy Who Cried Wolf and Betsy Red Hoodie. Gail Carson Levine and her husband, David, live in a two-centuries-old farmhouse in the Hudson Valley of New York State.

Grace Lin is the author and illustrator of more than twenty books for children, including the Newbery Honor Book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown), the Geisel Honor Book Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same! (Little, Brown), and The Ugly Vegetables. She is also the co-author and illustrator of Our Seasons. She lives in Florence, Massachusetts.

Yuyi Morales is an author, artist, and puppet maker and was the host of her own Spanish-language radio program for children. She has won numerous awards, including the Jane Addams Award, five Pura Belpré Medals, and three Pura Belpré Honors, and a CaldecottHonor for Viva Frida. She divides her time between the SanFrancisco area and Veracruz, Mexico, where she was born.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has written more than 135 books, including the Newbery Award–winning Shiloh and its sequels, the Alice series, Roxie and the Hooligans, and Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard’s Roost. She lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. To hear from Phyllis and find out more about Alice, visit AliceMcKinley.com.

Linda Sue Park is the author of the Newbery Medal book A Single Shard and the New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water, among many other acclaimed books. She lives in Rochester, New York. Visit her at www.lspark.com.

Dan Santat is both author and illustrator of The Guild of Geniuses (Arthur A Levine Books, 2004).which was a Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Selection and won the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators Bronze Medal for Book Illustration. In addition, Dan illustrated Rhea Perlman’s Otto Undercover series (Katherine Tegan Books/HarperCollins) and The Secret Life of Walter Kitty, written by Barbara Jean Hicks (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2007). Find out more at www.dantat.com.

Brian Selznick is the author and illustrator of the bestselling The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal and was a National Book Award finalist. He is also the illustrator of many books for children, including Frindle and Lunch Money by Andrew Clements, as well as the Doll People trilogy by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, and The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, which was a Caldecott Honor Book. Mr. Selznick divides his time between Brooklyn, New York, and San Diego, California.

Rita Williams-Garcia’s Newbery Honor-winning novel, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The sequel, P.S. Be Eleven, was also a Coretta Scott King Award winner and an ALA Notable Children’s Book for Middle Readers. She is also the author of six distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here, Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book), and Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); Blue Tights; and Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, is on the faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children & Young Adults Program, and has two adult daughters, Stephanie and Michelle, and a son-in-law, Adam.

Eric Rohmann is the Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator of My Friend Rabbit and received a Caldecott Honor for Time Flies. He has both written and illustrated numerous books for children, including Oh, No! and Bone Dog. He lives in Oak Park, Illinois.