Hope Wins

Tom Angleberger, author of the New York Times bestselling Origami Yoda series, has been a Star Wars fan and collector since 1977. Growing up before the dawn of the VCR, Tom listened to Star Wars again and again on cassette tape. His first action figure was C–3PO and his most recent (very recent) was a sandtrooper. He lives in Virginia with his wife, author and illustrator Cece Bell.

Sarah Mlynowski is the author of the Magic in Manhattan and Whatever After series, as well as Gimme a Call, Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have), Milkrun, and more. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages. Sarah was born in Montreal but lives and writes in New York City.

Max Brallier is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His books and series include The Last Kids on Earth, Eerie Elementary, Mister Shivers, Galactic Hot Dogs, and Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? He is a writer and producer for Netflix’s Emmy-award-winning adaptation of The Last Kids on Earth. Max lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. Visit him at MaxBrallier.com.

JULIE BUXBAUM is the author of the What to Say Next, as well as the New York Times bestseller Tell Me Three Things, her debut young adult novel. She also wrote the critically acclaimed The Opposite of Love and After You. Her work has been translated into twenty-five languages. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two young children.

Pablo Cartaya is an award-winning author, speaker, actor, and educator. In 2018, he recieved a Pura Belpré Author Honor for his middle grade novel, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora. His second novel, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, is available now. Learn more about Pablo at pablocartaya.com and follow him on Twitter @phcartaya.

J.C. Cervantes is a New York Times bestselling author of books for children and young adults. Her books have appeared on national lists, including the ABA New Voices, B&N’s Best Young Reader Books, and Amazon’s Best Books of the Month. She has earned multiple awards and recognitions, including the New Mexico Book Award and the Zia Book Award. She currently resides in the Land of Enchantment with her family, three spoiled dogs, and a lifetime collection of books. When she isn’t writing, she is haunting bookstores and searching for magic in all corners of the world.

Rex Ogle is the author of Free Lunch, which won the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; Abuela Don’t Forget Me, a finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; Punching Bag; and the novel When We Ride. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Matt de la Peña is the Newbery Medal–winning author of Last Stop on Market Street. He is also the author of the award-winning picture books Carmela Full of Wishes, Love, and A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis, and seven critically acclaimed young adult novels. Matt teaches creative writing and visits schools and colleges throughout the country. You can visit Matt at mattdelapena.com, or follow him on Twitter and Instagram @mattdelapena.

Bestselling author Adam Gidwitz was a teacher for eight years. He told countless stories to his students, who then demanded he write his first book, A Tale Dark & Grimm. Adam has since written two companion novels, In a Glass Grimmly and The Grimm Conclusion. He is also the author of The Inquisitor’s Tale, which won the Newbery Honor, and The Unicorn Rescue Society series. Adam still tells creepy, funny fairy tales live to kids on his podcast Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest—and at schools around the world. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, daughter, and dog, Lucy Goosey.

Veera Hiranandani, author of the Newbery Honor–winning The Night Diary, earned her MFA in creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asia Book Award finalist; and How to Find What You’re Not Looking For, winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the New York Historical Society Children’s History Book Prize. A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA Program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Hena Khan is a Pakistani American writer. She is the author of the middle-grade novel Amina’s Voice, which was selected as a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, NPR, Washington Post, and Chicago Public Library. Her other titles include Amina’s Song, More to the Story, and the Zara’s Rules series and picture books Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns, Under My Hijab, and It’s Ramadan, Curious George, among others. Hena lives in her hometown of Rockville, Maryland, with her family.

The improbable life story of Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) included a peculiarly gothic childhood in Ireland during which he was successively abandoned by his mother, his father and his guardian; two decades in the United States, where he worked as a journalist and was sacked for marrying a former slave; and a long period in Japan, where he married a Japanese woman and wrote about Japanese society and aesthetics for a Western readership. His ghost stories, which were drawn from Japanese folklore and influenced by Buddhist beliefs, appeared in collections throughout the 1890s and 1900s. He is a much celebrated figure in Japan.