Beth Phelan Literary Agent

Kacen Callender

Kacen Callender is the author of HURRICANE CHILD and THIS IS KIND OF AN EPIC LOVE STORY, and is an Associate Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. They're committed to expanding diversity in children's books.

Kacen loves playing RPG video games and watching soul-sucking reality TV shows in their free time. They really wish they had a dog.

Kacen uses the they/them pronoun.

Kat Cho

Kat Cho used to hide books under the bathroom sink and then sneak in there to read after bedtime. Her parents pretended not to know. This helped when she decided to write a dinosaur time-travel novel at the tender age of nine. Sadly, that book was not published. She currently works in NYC as an editorial assistant. Kat's YA contemporary fantasy debut, GUMIHO, comes out with Putnam Young Readers in 2019.

Janel Kolby

Janel Kolby is a poet and story writer for teens and children. She is a graduate from Hamline University's MFAC program, and lives in Seattle with her family and Sunny Arms community. Her debut young adult novel, WINTERFOLK, was published in February 2018 by HarperTeen.

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Emery Lee

Emery Lee is a writer and artist crafting YA novels, short stories, and webcomics. Hailing from a diverse racial background, e dedicates eir writing to showcasing diversity and creating the stories e always wanted to read. When e's not writing, you can catch em playing guitar, cuddling cute dogs, or at an ever-growing list of boba tea shops.

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Kathryn (K.E.) Ormsbee

Kathryn (K.E.) Ormsbee writes books for kids and teens. She is the Young Adult author of THE GREAT UNKNOWABLE END (Simon & Schuster, 2018), TASH HEARTS TOLSTOY (S&S), and LUCKY FEW (S&S), and the Middle Grade author of THE HOUSE IN POPLAR WOOD (Chronicle, Fall 2018) and THE WATER AND THE WILD series (Chronicle). She likes clothes from the 60s, music from the 70s, and movies from the 80s. She is from the 90s.

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justin a. reynolds

He’s been a pest control operator, a night security guard, cleaned offices at a steel mill, interned at NASA, sold high-end faucet fixtures, installed carpet flooring, taught 5th graders, and is most recently a registered nurse, happily caring for hematology, oncology, and orthopedic patients. And alas—now he gets to write books that you can read. justin a. reynolds’ debut YA novel OPPOSITE OF ALWAYS is forthcoming from Katherine Tegen Books in the U.S. and Macmillan in the U.K. He hangs out around Cleveland.

Randy Ribay

Randy Ribay is the author of AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES (Merit Press, 2015) and AFTER THE SHOT DROPS (HMH, March 2018). He was born in the Philippines and raised in Michigan and Colorado. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ed.M. in Language & Literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. After a decade on the East Coast, Randy now lives in the SF Bay Area with his wife and two dog-children, where he teaches high school English.

Shveta Thakrar

Shveta Thakrar is a writer of South Asian–flavored fantasy, social justice activist, and part-time nagini. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in a variety of magazines and anthologies. When not spinning stories about spider silk and shadows, magic and marauders, and courageous girls illuminated by dancing rainbow flames, Shveta crafts, devours books, daydreams, draws, travels, bakes, and occasionally even plays her harp.

Kayla Whaley

Kayla Whaley is an editor at Disability in Kidlit and a graduate of the Clarion Writers' Workshop. In addition to writing middle grade and young adult novels, she is an essayist with work appearing at The Toast, The Establishment, and in Feminism for the Real World, among other venues. She also holds a Master's in Public Administration that's languishing somewhere in her closet. She lives in Atlanta, but can most often be found being overly sincere on the internet.

Ashley Woodfolk

Ashley Woodfolk graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in English and her life-long love of books led her straight to the publishing industry. She's a member of the CBC Diversity Committee and markets books for children and teens at Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and pit bull puppy, Winnie. Her debut young adult novel, THE BEAUTY THAT REMAINS, was published in March 2018 from Delacorte/Random House Children's books.

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Mimi Jae Soon Yu

Mimi is a second-generation Korean-American, born and raised in rural upstate New York. She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, and an MFA from Parsons School of Design. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her partner, five cats, a geriatric dog, and an alarming number of foster kittens. Her debut YA fantasy THE GIRL KING is due out in January 2019 from Bloomsbury Children's Books in the US and Gollancz in the UK.