The Door Is Open

Reem Faruqi is the award-winning author of Unsettled, Golden Girl, Anisa’s International Day, Call Me Adnan, Swimming Toward a Dream, Do You Even Know Me?, The House Without Lights, and Zarina Divided. She is also the author of the ALA Notable picture books Lailah’s Lunchbox and Amira’s Picture Day as well as the acclaimed Milloo’s Mind and I Can Help. Of Pakistani descent, Reem immigrated to Peachtree City, Georgia, in the United States from the United Arab Emirates when she was thirteen years old. Reem is also a teacher and photographer who loves to doodle. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and four daughters. Visit her online at reemfaruqi.com.

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in Massachusetts, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor–winning novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of novels and picture books, fiction and nonfiction, in prose and poetry. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, she lives outside Boston with her family. Visit her at rajanilarocca.com.

Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond middle grade fantasy series, which includes The Serpent's Secret, Game of Stars, and The Chaos Curse. She is also the author of She Persisted: Virginia Apgar and a freestanding Kingdom Beyond novel, Force of Fire. She's a pediatrician by training but now teaches narrative medicine at Columbia University. When she's not writing, reading, or teaching, she spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her dog, Khushi, from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags.