Author
June Sarpong
Ibi Zoboi was born in Haiti, and holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing has been published in The New York Times Book Review, and The Rumpus, among others. She is the author of American Street, a US National Book Award finalist. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and three children. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.
Paul Gallico
Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897 – July 15, 1976) was a successful American novelist, short story and sports writer. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictures. He is perhaps best remembered for his short story, The Snow Goose and for the novel The Poseidon Adventure, which was made into a very famous film adaptation in 1972.
Laura Ruby
Originally from the East Coast, Laura Ruby now lives in Chicago with her husband, two stepdaughters and two cats. As well as being the author of The Invisible Girl and The Boy Who Could Fly, novels for readers of all ages, she has also written the teen novel Good Girls and regularly publishes short fiction for adults in literary magazines.
Michael Scott
Michael Scott, OBE, is a writer and broadcaster with a training in botany and education, and a special interest in Scottish mountain flowers. He has run many adult education classes on wild flowers and leads natural history courses and study tours. He is Scottish Officer of the conservation charity Plantlife and edits Scottish Environment News.
Carlo Collodi
Carlo Collodi (1826–1890) is the pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini, an Italian children’s writer. His most famous work, ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’, first appeared in 1880, published weekly in a newspaper for children. The novel’s eponymous character has transcended the page and taken on a life of his own, appearing in films, television, plays, and spinoff works.
Lindsey Kelk
Lindsey Kelk is a Sunday Times bestselling author, podcaster and internet oversharer. Born and brought up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Lindsey worked in London as a children’s editor before writing her first book, I Heart New York, and moving to Brooklyn. Lindsey’s novels include the I Heart series, Love Me Do and On a Night Like This. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
Helen Dunmore
Helen Dunmore was an award-winning novelist, poet and children’s writer, who will be remembered for the wisdom, lyricism, compassion and immersive beauty of her writing. In her lifetime, she published eight collections of poetry, many novels for both adults and children, and two collections of short stories. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel A Spell of Winter, and her novel The Siege was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Fiction.
Ibi Zoboi
Ibi Zoboi was born in Haiti, and holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing has been published in The New York Times Book Review, and The Rumpus, among others. She is the author of American Street, a US National Book Award finalist. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and three children. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.
Yusef Salaam
Dr. Yusef Salaam was just fifteen when he was wrongly convicted in the “Central Park jogger” case, along with four other boys. In 2002, after years behind bars, they were fully exonerated. Their story has been documented in award-winning film The Central Park Five and acclaimed Netflix series When They See Us. Yusef is now a poet, activist and inspirational speaker who lives in Atlanta, GA. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama. www.yusefspeaks.com