Bookable Authors: Upper Grades (8 12) English
Mary Amato
Mary Amato is an award-winning children’s and YA book author, songwriter, and poet who lives in Maryland. Her books have been translated into foreign languages, optioned for television, and produced onstage. View →
Josh Anderson
Josh Anderson is the author of several books, including Heat on the Street. He lives and works in Burbank, California, with his wife, Corey, and their two big guys, Leo and Dane. View →
Ted Anderson
Ted Anderson is a librarian, educator, and comics writer from Minnesota. He has written licensed and creator-owned comics for multiple publishers, including BOOM! Studios, IDW Publishing, and Aftershock Comics. He lives in Minneapolis… View →
Lenore Appelhans
Lenore Appelhans is the author of several books for children and teens. Her work has appeared on the Bank Street Best Books list, won a SCBWI Crystal Kite award, and been featured on boxes of Cheerios. Lenore is an ambivert, a proud Slytherpuff, and a world… View →
Elana K. Arnold
Elana K. Arnold is the author of several books for young readers. She lives in Huntington Beach, California, with her husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. View →
Ayesha Harruna Attah
Ayesha Harruna Attah is a Ghanaian-born writer living in Senegal. She was educated at Mount Holyoke College, Columbia University, and New York University. She is the author of three novels for adults, including the widely acclaimed The 100 Wells of Salaga. Her writing has appeared in The View →
Karen Bao
Karen Jialu Bao does science in the lab, then goes home and writes about it. Having earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University, she studies mosquito brains by blasting them with an electron beam. She has eight ear piercings for no reason. Her favorite activities include… View →
Kathy Belge
Kathy Belge has been a freelance writer since 2003 specializing in the LGBT community. She co-authored the book Lipstick and Dipstick’s Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships and wrote the monthly advice column Lipstick & Dipstick for Curve magazine… View →
Harry Bogosian
Harry Bogosian is a freelance Illustrator and comic artist from New York City. Since graduating Pratt Institute in 2009 he has drawn monsters for video game companies, done freelance work for books, and nowadays primarily makes comics and graphic novels. There is nothing he enjoys more… View →
Tessa Brunton
Tessa Brunton is an cartoonist and author based in Santa Cruz, California. Her first comic book Passage was nominated for two Ignatz Awards: Outstanding Comic and Promising New Talent. Her mini-comic Second Banana is a Best American Comics 2014 notable comic. Her comics have appeared in… View →
Jeff Campbell
Jeff Campbell has published two previous young adult books about animals: Daisy to the Rescue (a 2015 IPPY gold medal winner), about animals saving human lives and the science of animal intelligence; and Last of the Giants (a 2016 Junior Library Guild… View →
Ty Chapman
Ty Chapman is the author of Sarah Rising (Beaming 2022); Looking for Happy (Beaming 2023); A Door Made for Me, written with Tyler Merritt (WorthyKids 2022); as well as multiple forthcoming children’s books through various publishers, and a forthcoming poetry collection through… View →
Brent Chartier
Brent Chartier co-wrote The Franchise (The Opportunity series) and At All Costs (Red Zone series) with author Patrick Jones. He currently lives in a Detroit suburb with his son and their two cats. View →
R. Gregory Christie
R. Gregory Christie’s illustrations have earned him many awards, including a Caldecott Honor, many Coretta Scott King Honors, and multiple spots on the New York Times’ annual Best Illustrated Children’s Books lists. He has been a guest speaker at conferences and… View →
Marshunna Clark
Marshunna Clark is a young African-American writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her interest in various storytelling formats led her to pursue a degree in Screenwriting at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. View →
Laurie Boyle Crompton
Laurie Boyle Crompton is the author of many young adult novels including Pretty in Punxsutawney (2019), Freaky in Fresno (2020), The Real Prom Queens of Westfield High (2014) and Love and Vandalism (2017). After moving to New York she began creating activist artwork promoting body love… View →
Anya Davidson
Anya Davidson is a cartoonist, printmaker and musician living in Chicago. Her debut book, School Spirits, was excerpted in Best American Comics 2015, edited by Jonathan Lethem and Bill Kartalopoulos. Her sophomore graphic novel, Band for Life, (2016, Fantagraphics books) based on her… View →
Sasha Dawn
Sasha Dawn teaches writing at community colleges and offers pro bono writing workshops to local schools. She lives in her native northern Illinois, where she collects tap shoes, fabric swatches, and tales of survival, and she harbors a crush on Thomas Jefferson. Her debut novel,… View →
Laura B. Edge
Laura B. Edge was born just north of Chicago in Waukegan, Illinois. She grew up in a big Italian-Irish family with lots of brothers and sisters. She loves to read, travel, dance, ride horses, and watch basketball games. Laura received her bachelor’s degree in education from the… View →
G. D. Falksen
G. D. Falksen is the author of several novels, including Doctor Cthulittle, The Transatlantic Conspiracy, The Ouroboros Cycle series, and Blood in the Skies. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Writers and Artists Across the Country. Read more at www.gdfalksen.com. View →