Peter Abrahams was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 28, 1947. His works include Lights Out, The Fan, Crying Wolf, and Oblivion. He also writes the Echo Falls Mysteries Series for younger readers. He was the winner of the 2010 Edgar Award, Best Young Adult Mystery for Reality Check. In addition, he writes the Chet and Bernie Mystery Series under the pseudonym Spencer Quinn. (Bowker Author Biography)

Libba Bray was born in Alabama on March 11, 1964. She grew up in Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988. She moved to New York City and worked in the publicity department of Penguin Putnam, followed by three years at Spier, an advertising agency specializing in book advertising. Before writing young adult novels, she wrote three books for 17th Street Press using a pseudonym. She is the author of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Going Bovine and The Diviners. (Bowker Author Biography)

David Levithan was born in 1972. He graduated from Brown University in 1994 and is a senior editor at Scholastic. He has written numerous books including Boy Meets Boy, The Realm of Possibility, Every Day, and Another Day. (Bowker Author Biography)

Sarah weeks was born March 18, 1955 in Ann Arbor Michigan. She received her BA from Hampshire College and her MFA from New York University. Sarah is the author of numerous best-selling children's books including Glamourpuss, Woof!: A Love Story, Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth, If I Were a Lion, the hilarious Mrs. McNosh series, and many more. Sarah's book, So B. It, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015. (Bowker Author Biography)

Gene Luen Yang was born on August 9, 1973 in California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in computer science and minored in creative writing. After graduating in 1995, he worked as a computer engineer for two years. He decided that he was meant to teach and left his job as an engineer to teach computer science at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California. He is a writer of graphic novels and comics. His first published comic, Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks, was published in 1997 and won the Xeric Grant, a self-publishing grant for comic book creators. His other works include Loyola Chin and the San Peligran Order and Avatar: The Last Airbender. He won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2006 for American Born Chinese and the Eisner Award for best short story in 2009 for Eternal Smile. (Bowker Author Biography)

Patricia McCormick, a two-time National Book Award finalist, is the author of five critically acclaimed novels: Never Fall Down, a novel based on the true story of an 11-year-old boy who survived the Killing Fields of Cambodia by playing music; Purple Heart, a suspenseful psychological novel that explores the killing of a 10-year-old boy in Iraq; Sold, a deeply moving account of sexual trafficking; My Brother's Keeper, a realistic view of teenage substance abuse; and Cut, an intimate portrait of one girl's struggle with self-injury. McCormick grew up in central Pennsylvania. She worked as an assistant press secretary to the Governor of Pennsylvania from 1974-78, then went to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. McCormick studied fiction writing at The New School in New York City. Never Fall Down was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2012 and was named a New York Times Notable Book for 2012. It was also named a Best Book of the Year by iTunes, The Huffington Post, School Library Journal and the Chicago Public Library. McCormick was named a New York Foundation on the Arts fellow in 2004 and a MacDowell fellow in 2009. She is also the winner of the 2009 German Peace Prize for Youth Literature. (Bowker Author Biography)