Christina Mandelski has loved putting pen to paper for as long as she can remember. After years of dabbling in various genres (riveting poetry in kindergarten, then again in college, with clandestine notes in grade school and yearbook copy in high school in between), she eventually found her passion writing for kids. Her debut novel for teens, The Sweetest Thing, was published in spring 2011 by Egmont USA. She lives with her family in Houston. {site}

Shannon Morgan is an award-winning short story writer and novelist, and three of her plays for young audiences have been produced by a professional nonprofit children’s theatre in San Antonio, Texas. When she manages to unplug from her laptop, Shannon likes to travel the world, where she can embarrass herself in several languages. She lives in San Antonio with her husband, who does the cooking. {site}

Erin Byers Murray is a Boston area journalist, specializing in food and wine writing. Most recently, she was the editor for Boston DailyCandy.com. Her work has been published in the Boston Globe, Food and Wine, and in many other print and online venues. Her memoir, Shucked: My Year in Oysters, appeared from St. Martin's Press in 2011. {site}

Matt has been drawing ever since he could first hold a pencil, and super heroes have filled up the majority of the pages in his sketchbooks. That lifelong love of comic books spurred him to write the Jack Blank series, which debuted in 2010 from Simon and Schuster with The Accidental Hero, was followed by The Secret War in 2011, and will conclude in 2012. Matt lives in New Jersey with his wife, son, and their trusty dog, Indy. {site}

Elisa Nader’s career has taken her from owning her own record label and playing in rock bands to designing websites for companies like Time Warner and AOL, but her passion was always writing. After ditching her soul-sucking corporate gig in 2008, she became obsessed with writing a young adult novel much to the dismay of her family and friends. (Not surprisingly, the novel is about playing in rock bands and a sort of literal soul-sucking.) She lives outside of Washington D.C. with her husband, daughter, an old bass guitar and an even older cat. {site}

Paul-Anthony Navarro wrote his first stage play at the age of 15 and has since written and produced many works for the professional theater. Paul made his living as an actor for many years in Los Angeles and the Northwest but now teaches Theater Arts and Computer Applications at the college level in his adopted home of Portland, Oregon. He is currently at work on a middle grade adventure series.

Deesha Philyaw and Michael D. Thomas are devoted co-parents and the founders of Co-Parenting101.org, an online resource for those who are parenting together after a divorce or separation. They also co-host a weekly live radio talk show on BlogTalk Radio. Their book, Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Children Thrive After Divorce, will by appear from New Harbinger in January of 2013. Visit them on the web at Co-Parenting 101. {site}

Sarah Ockler is the author of the acclaimed novels Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah, and the just-published Bittersweet. When she’s not busy making up stories, Sarah blogs, snaps photographs, and embarks on whirlwind adventures with her husband. They live in Buffalo, NY, where they survive the long winters thanks to coffee and Indian food and big fuzzy slippers. {site}

Edith Pattou is the New York Times–bestselling author of Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden, a picture book, and the beloved fantasy East, an ALA Notable Book and Top Ten BBYA selection, as well as the two novels in the ongoing Songs of Eirren, Hero’s Song and Fire Arrow. She lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio.{site}

Danielle Rollins has won numerous awards for her fiction and non-fiction, and was a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee for her short story “Drive.” She lives in New York City and works in the marketing department at a major publishing company. When she isn’t writing, she’s searching Astoria and Brooklyn for vintage glass jars, eating Italian food with her web designer boyfriend, and spending way too much money on pretty dresses. {site}

Rinsai Rossetti was born in Thailand; she grew up in Canada, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. She is currently a student at Dartmouth College. She has been an avid writer her entire life, and loves telling stories that meld elements of the fantastic with the utterly normal. Her debut novel, The Girl with Borrowed Wings, will appear from Dial Books for Young Readers in 2012.