Hope Wins

Tom Angleberger ("Rise of the RoboShoes™") began writing his first novel in eighth grade, but never completed it. Since then, he’s been a newspaper reporter and columnist, a juggler, a weed boy, a lawn-mower-part assembler, and a biology research assistant. This bestselling author insists he’s not really all that creative—"I’m more of a puzzle-putter-together."

Sarah Mlynowski is the bestselling author of Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have); I See London, I See France; Don’t Even Think About It; Think Twice; Milkrun; Fishbowl; Bras & Broomsticks; the Whatever After series; and more. Her books have been translated into twenty-nine languages and optioned to Hollywood. Sarah was born in Montreal but now lives and writes in New York City. Visit her at www.sarahm.com and find her everywhere @sarahmlynowski.

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 a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of books for readers of all ages. Her books include the young adult novel Tell Me Three Things and the middle grade series The Area 51 Files. A graduate of University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children, a dog named Potato, and more books than is reasonable.

Pablo Cartaya is an award-winning author, screenwriter, speaker, and occasional actor. He is the Pura Belpré Honor Book Award winner for The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora; an Audie finalist for Audiobook of the Year in the middle grade category (for which he narrated); an ALSC notable book of the year for Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish; and the 2020 Schneider Family Book Award Honor winner for his middle grade novel Each Tiny Spark. His newest title, The Last Beekeeper, contemplates a future where bees are central to a rebuilding world. His novels focus on the themes of family, community, culture, and the environment. He lives in the hyphens between his Cuban and American identities and with his familia in Miami. Visit him at pablocartaya.com 

J. C. Cervantes is the New York Times bestselling author of the Storm Runner series as well as other books for young people and adults. She currently resides in the Land of Enchantment with her family and spoiled pups but keeps part of her heart in Southern California, where she was born and raised. When she isn’t writing, she is haunting bookstores and searching for magic in all corners of the world.

Rex Ogle has had lots of jobs. Some involved waiting tables, moving boxes, or cleaning toilets. Other jobs involved creating stories for Star Wars, LEGO, Power Rangers, Minions, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics. Now Rex is a full-time writer and the authorbehind Free Lunch, winner of the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. And he’s written the first book in The Supernatural Society series. Why? Because, while it was fun to clean toilets, it is much more fun to write about monsters.

Stuart Gibbs is the author of the FunJungle series as well as the New York Times bestselling Spy School and Moon Base Alpha series. He has written the screenplays for movies like See Spot Run and Repli-Kate, worked on many animated films, and developed TV shows for Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC, and Fox. Stuart lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles. You can visit him online at stuartgibbs.com.

R.L. Stine has more than 350 million English language books in print, plus international editions in 32 languages, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written other series, including Fear Street, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and his Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Minnie. Visit him online at rlstine.com.

Hena Khan is a Pakistani American writer. She is the author of the middle grade novels Amina’s Voice, Amina’s Song, More to the Story, Drawing Deena, 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. You can learn more about Hena and her books by visiting her website at HenaKhan.com or connecting with her @HenaKhanBooks.

Gordon Korman published his first book at age fourteen and since then has written more than one hundred middle grade and teen novels. Favorites include the New York Times bestselling Ungifted, Supergifted, The Superteacher Project, The Unteachables, Pop, Notorious, Unplugged, Operation Do-Over, Slugfest, and the Masterminds series. Gordon lives with his family on Long Island, New York. You can visit him online at gordonkorman.com.