We are the parents of 3 energetic, entertaining and emotional children. The inspiration for the books comes from them. We watch the struggles our children deal with and remember those same challenges. We try to think of tools that have helped us in life and demonstrate them to our children. nylahversus.com
1. Anthony also writes and directs short films.
2. Nylah is the name of our only daughter
Donna Gephart‘s award-winning middle grade novels include: Abby, Tried and True, Lily and Dunkin, Death by Toilet Paper and How to Survive Middle School. Welcome to the Woofmore is a fun, new early chapter book series from Abrams about a posh hotel run by dogs for dogs with a new VIP (Very Important Pooch) appearing in each book. Go Be Wonderful is Donna’s first picture book about being perfectly imperfect. She’s a popular speaker at schools, conferences and book festivals. Donna lives in South Jersey near Philadelphia with her awesome and paw-some family. Visit her online at www.donnagephart.com.
Awards
The Sid Fleischman Humor Award; California Young Readers Medal Winner; New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids; NPR’s Best Kids’ Books; Chicago Public Library’s Best Fiction for Older Readers, Great Words, Great Works Book Selection from the National Spelling Bee; Thurber House Children’s-Writer-in-Residence, etc.
1. I won second place in the school talent show in 7th grade with my gravity-defying hula-hooping skills. (It’s not like I’m still bitter about not winning first place. Nope. Not at all.)
2. I’m not so great with numbers.
John Patrick Green is a human with the human job of making books about animals with human jobs, notably the smash-hit graphic novel series InvestiGators. John is definitely a multiple New York Times-bestselling human author and not just a bunch of animals in a trench coat pretending to have a human job. With over a million copies of InvestiGators in print, John is a successful human being with only two hands and a normal amount of fur. He lives in a Brooklyn apartment that doesn’t allow animals other than the ones living in his head. https://investigatorsbooks.com
The InvestiGators are a New York Times best-selling series. His graphic novel Hippopotamister has won the Children’s Crown Gallery Award, and InvestiGators received the Denise McCoy Literacy Award 2022.
1. I got my start making comics as a little kid, by selling drawings of Garfield in third grade.
2. I went to School of Visual Arts in NYC for graphic design, but while I was there I started self-publishing comics with a friend, Dave Roman, starting a fantasy series called Jax Epoch.
3. I work traditionally, meaning that I draw my comics with pencils and pens on paper.
Meredith Ireland was born in Korea and adopted by a New York librarian. Her love of books started early and, although she pursued both pre-med at Rollins College and law at the University of Miami, stories were her fate. She currently resides with her two children, and Bob, a carnival goldfish who’s likely a person. She writes children’s books, some of which you may like. She is the author of the YA novels The Jasmine Project, a JLG Gold Standard Selection, and Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller. She is also a contributor to You Are Here, a middle grade anthology, and When We Became Ours, a young adult anthology. https://meredithireland.wordpress.com/
Awards
The Jasmine Project – JLG Gold Standard Selection
Dan Gutman was born in a log cabin in Illinois and used to write by candlelight with a piece of chalk on a shovel. Oh, wait. That was Abraham Lincoln. Actually, Dan has written 175 books for beginning readers (“Rappy the Raptor”), young readers (“My Weird School”), and advanced readers (“The Genius Files”, “Flashback Four”). Dan lives in New York City. You can visit his web site (www.dangutman.com) and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. www.dangutman.com
Awards
A few state book awards. More importantly, My Weird School has sold 35 million copies. So who cares about awards, right?
1. I’m left handed.
2. I’m partly color blind.
3. I love watermelon and ShopRite bran flakes.
Jyoti Rajan Gopal is an award-winning picture book author, mom and forever kindergarten teacher. Her books have received starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews, Publisher’s Weekly, School and Library Journal, Book List, and Book Page and are on the Bank Street, NYPL and SLJ Best Books lists. She is the recipient of the ALA 2024 Stonewall Honor Award.
Jyoti writes stories – fiction and non-fiction – of identity, community and belonging, themes that speak to her heart and that reflect her multiple identities. https://www.jyotirajangopal.com/
Awards
ALA Stonewall Honor 2024 for Desert Queen
1. I speak 5 languages.
2. I swam with whale sharks.
3. I love tiramisu.
Jenna Gavigan is the author of the middle-grade novels Lulu the Broadway Mouse, and Lulu the Broadway Mouse: The Show Must Go On. As a child, she dreamed of Broadway, and as teenager, she made her Broadway debut in Gypsy, opposite Bernadette Peters. Since then, she’s appeared in a handful of films, on a gaggle of television shows, and on stages east and west. Also a producer, Jenna won her first Tony Award in June of 2022 as member of the producing team for the Best New Musical A Strange Loop. Jenna holds a BA in creative writing from Columbia University, where she focused on fiction, television, and screenwriting. Like Lulu, Jenna loves cheese, regularly quotes musicals, and continues to dream of Broadway. Visit her online at iamjennagavigan.com or on Twitter and Instagram @Jenna_Gavigan www.iamjennagavigan.com
1. I went to regular school during the day while performing on Broadway at night.
2. I wrote a picture-book draft of Lulu in a children’s book writing class during my final semester of college.
3. I gave birth to my first child in 2020!!
Chuck Groenink is an illustrator and more recently an author of picture books. He has worked with publishers in the US and Europe on over two dozen children’s books since 2010. He strives to make books that reflect his curiosity about the world we live in. www.chuckgroenink.com
Recipient of the Fiep Westendorp prize in the Netherlands. My most recent books have been awarded Junior Library Guild gold selections, and my book Full Moon Pups is a Dolly Parton Imagination Library selection.
1. Despite my very American first name, I am in fact, from the Netherlands.
2. I almost always put one of my cats in any book I work on.
3. I can hypnotize a chicken.
New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes has received the 2022 CSK Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for young adult literature, the Children’s Literature Legacy Medal, the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, the Coretta Scott King Award for Bronx Masquerade, and five Coretta Scott King Honors. Her recent titles include Printz Honor and Sibert Honor Ordinary Hazards, ALA Notables Legacy:Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and Southwest Sunrise, Kirkus Best Book Bedtime for Sweet Creatures, Kamala Harris:Rooted in Justice, Playtime for Restless Rascals, and Garvey in the Dark. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California. www.nikkigrimes.com
1. Once sang on the stage of the Stockholm Philharmonic in Sweden.
2. In Sweden, I was known as a singer who also wrote.
3. In addition to writing, I also paint. The first time I exhibited my watercolors, I won a blue ribbon.
John Gray is an Emmy award winning journalist and writer from upstate New York. Donations from the sales of his first children’s book have helped more than 30 animal shelters all over the country. His new book ‘Keller’s Heart’ is based on his blind and deaf dog Keller. View John’s Facebook page.
1. My children’s books are based on real events from my life. In fact I do have a dog named Keller who is blind and deaf and helps run our household.
2. For 20 years I have written a weekly column for the very newspaper that I once delivered as a young child in my hometown. Paperboy was my first job.
3. I’m a huge fan of Broadway and have seen RENT 12 times and can sing the entire score without missing a single word.
