Mariko Tamaki made ALA award history when This One Summer (the First Second/Macmillan graphic novel she co-created with her cousin Jillian Tamaki) won both a Printz and Caldecott Honor in 2015! In April 2016, Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan will publish Mariko’s Saving Montgomery Sole–a YA novel about an outcast girl who explores the mysteries of friendship, family, faith, and phenomena, including the greatest mystery of all, herself. Mariko is Canadian and currently lives in California.
Meg Medina is an award-winning Cuban American author who writes picture books, middle grade, and YA fiction.
She is the 2016 recipient of the Pura Belpré honor medal for her picture book, Mango, Abuela and Me, and the 2014 Pura Belpré Award winner for her young adult novel, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass , which was also the winner of the 2013 CYBILS Fiction award and the International Latino Book Award. She is also the 2012 Ezra Jack Keats New Writers medal winner for her picture book Tía Isa Wants a Car.
Meg’s other books are The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind , a 2012 Bank Street Best Book and CBI Recommended Read in the UK; and Milagros: Girl from Away.
Meg’s work examines how cultures intersect, as seen through the eyes of young people. She brings to audiences stories that speak to both what is unique in Latino culture and to the qualities that are universal. Her favorite protagonists are strong girls.
In March 2014, she was recognized as one of the CNN 10 Visionary Women in America. In November 2014, she was named one of Latino Stories Top Ten Latino Authors to Watch.
When she is not writing, Meg works on community projects that support girls, Latino youth and/or literacy. She lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia.
Meg discusses all her books on National Public Radio. Chick here for Meg on NPR’s Virginia Currents.
Carolyn Mackler’s latest novel for teens, Infinite in Between, has already garnered several starred reviews. She is also the author of the popular YA novel, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (A Michael L. Printz Honor Book), and six other novels for children and teenagers. Carolyn loves drinking coffee. She is also excited to be a judge, though she doesn’t consider herself very judgmental. At least not with her friends. Well, most of them. Okay, yes, Carolyn has judgments! Who doesn’t? Carolyn lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. While she’s busy consuming caffeine and casting judgment, you can find her at www.carolynmackler.com and @carolynmackler on Twitter.
Frances Hardinge is the author of several books for children, including Cuckoo Song (five starred reviews, short-listed for the Carnegie Medal), The Lost Conspiracy (five starred reviews, Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist), Fly by Night (short-listed for the Guardian Children’s Book prize), Well Witched (SLJ Best Book of 2008), and Fly Trap (short-listed for the Guardian Prize, long-listed for the Carnegie Medal). She lives in England.
Despite being really quite opinionated, Kelly Loy Gilbert has nevertheless been a lifelong waffler when it comes to any decision ever, so Battle of the Books sounded like a solid way to trade hours of sleep for hours spent agonizing over a difficult choice. (Choices about books being, of course, the most difficult of all.) Kelly’s other favorite ways of losing sleep include: writing fiction about complex characters and moral gray areas, serving on the NaNoWriMo Associate Board, and teaching fiction writing. Her debut novel, CONVICTION (which, actually, now that she thinks about it, centers around a character having to make an impossible choice–write what you know, they say), was an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce and Indie Next selection, a Booklist Top Sports Book for Youth 2015, a Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal Best Book of 2015 and a YALSA Morris Award finalist. Her next novel, about an Asian American teen who begins to suspect his undocumented parents are hiding much more than he ever realized, is forthcoming from Disney-Hyperion, and she’s definitely working on that super diligently and not reading all the BoB books instead. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and tweets at @KellyLoyGilbert.
