WHO ARE WE?

Natalee Creech

WHEN DAY IS DONE, Beaming Books, Feb 2019
NOTHING, Worthy Kids/Ideals, April 2019
Natalee Creech is a children's author who is equally at home in Canada, (where she grew up) in the U.S., (where she studied education) and in South Korea (where she taught for many years). She has worked as an elementary teacher and public librarian. Regardless of her job or where she lives, she is probably sneaking more children's books into the house, much to the delight of her children and the dismay of her husband. Oreo, the family cat, remains indifferent.

​Website: nataleecreech.com
Twitter: @nataleecreech
Facebook: @nataleecreechauthor

B. J. Lee 

THERE WAS AN OLD GATOR WHO SWALLOWED A MOTH,  Pelican Publishing, Feb 2019
B. J. Lee is a children’s poet with poems in 25 poetry anthologies published by such publishers as Little, Brown, Wordsong, BloomsburyUK, National Geographic, Otter-Barry Books, Pomelo Books, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. She has worked with anthologists Lee Bennett Hopkins, J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt.  She has written poems for such children’s magazines as Spider, Highlights and The School Magazine. Her picture book, There Was an Old Gator Who Swallowed a Moth, is forthcoming with Pelican Publishing in spring 2019.

Website: www.childrensauthorbjlee.com
Poetry blog: www.bluewindow.weebly.com.
Twitter: @bjlee_writer

Christine Evans

EVELYN THE ADVENTUROUS ENTOMOLOGIST: THE TRUE STORY OF A WORLD TRAVELING BUG HUNTER, Innovation Press, Fall 2019

Christine Evans is a children's author, and a British expat who now calls California home. Once upon a time, Christine was a communications manager for a large British telecoms company. Now she's a contributor to Highlights magazines, writes nonfiction about places like Alcatraz, and loves discovering interesting people to write about.

​Website: pinwheelsandstories.com
Twitter: @ChristineNEvans

Teresa Robeson

QUEEN OF PHYSICS: HOW WU CHIEN SHIUNG HELPED UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE ATOM, Sterling, Fall 2019
Born in Hong Kong, raised in Canada, and now living in the U.S., Teresa likes to draw on her various cultural experiences when she writes. Much of her writing tends to incorporate her love of science, nature, and speculative fiction. She has been published in Ladybug, Babybug and other magazines and venues. Her favorite books are the ones that make her laugh or teach her new things, and she hopes she can do the same for readers. When not writing, she can be found making art, making soap, knitting, baking, helping out around the homestead, and wowing the chickens with her bilingualism (not).

Website: teresarobeson.com
Twitter: @teresarobeson
​Instagram: tmrobeson

Meera Sriram

THE YELLOW SUITCASE, Penny Candy Books, March 2019
Meera Sriram grew up in India and moved to the U.S at the turn of the millennium. An electrical engineer in her past life, she now enjoys writing for children and advocating early and multicultural literacy. Meera has co-authored several books published in India. The Yellow Suitcase is her debut picture book in the U.S. She believes in the transformative power of stories and writes on cross-cultural experiences that often take her back to her roots. Meera loves yoga and chai, and lives with her husband and two children in Berkeley, California, where she fantasizes about a world with no borders.​

Website: meerasriram.com
Twitter: @meeraTsriram
Facebook: @AuthorMeeraSriram

Cassandra Federman

THIS IS A SEA COW, Albert Whitman, Fall 2019
Cassandra was born and raised in Massachusetts where she spent her childhood reading comic books, playing action figures, drawing superheroes, and participating in all things nerdy (before that became cool). She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University and moved to Los Angeles, where she became a hand model. She even played Jessica Alba’s hands once... 
When she's not pretending to be famous people’s hands, she's creating art and literature for children. The rest of the time she spends with her husband and son, chasing away the ducks that prefer their pool to the LA River.

Website: cassandrafederman.com
Twitter/Instagram: @CassFederman
​

Sophia Gholz

THE BOY WHO GREW A FOREST: THE TRUE STORY OF JADEV PAYENG, Sleeping Bear Press, March 2019
Sophia Gholz is a children’s author, tree-hugger, music lover, magic seeker, and avid reader. Sophia grew up in the swamps of Florida, went to art school in Southern California, met her husband in Manhattan, and now enjoys life by the beach with her family.
 
As a child, Sophia spent most of her time at the farm riding horses, causing mischief with her brothers, or exploring the globe with her parents. The latter often included tents and large forests or accompanying her father on various scientific adventures.
 
Sophia’s debut picture book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest, was a 2017 Florida SCBWI Rising Kite Award winner. For more, you can find Sophia online with the links below:

Website: www.sophiagholz.com
​Twitter: @SophiaGholz
Instagram: @SophiaGholz

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Shannon Stocker

CAN U SAVE THE DAY, Sleeping Bear Press, August 2019
Shannon Stocker looked forward to a career in pediatrics when, during her last year of medical school, she became sick with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. After seven years of fighting, two years in a wheelchair, and being given two years to live, Shannon and her husband went to Mexico to take part in an experimental treatment—an induced coma—that forever changed their lives.

Now a full-time mother, musician, and writer in Louisville, Shannon’s been published three times in CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL and received awards for her picture book work (SCBWI Midsouth) and non-fiction essays (WOW! Women on Writing). Shannon wants to live in a world where dark chocolate grows on trees, butterflies trickle fairy dust, and dishes wash themselves.

Website: www.shannonstocker.com
Twitter: @iwriteforkidz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannon.o.stocker 

Yevgenia Nayberg

ANYA'S SECRET SOCIETY, Charlesbridge, March 2019
Yevgenia Nayberg is a children's book illustrator and set and costume designer. Her illustrations have appeared in magazines, picture books, theatre posters, music albums, and book covers, and her paintings, stage designs, and illustrations are featured in private collections worldwide. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including The National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Fellowship for theatre designers,The Independent Theatre Award and The Arlin Meyer Award. In 2018 she received a Sydney Taylor Silver Medal for her illustrations for Drop by Drop. Her debut author/illustrator picture book, Anya's Secret Society, is coming out in March, 2019. Yevgenia lives in New York City. 

Website:  ​http://www.nayberg.org/
Instagram: @znayberg
​Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nayberg, and 
https://www.facebook.com/anyassecretsociety/

Vivian Kirkfield

PIPPA'S PASSOVER PLATE, Holiday House, Feb. 2019
FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN: AN ANIMAL COUNTING BOOK, Pomegranate Press, March 2019​
SWEET DREAMS, SARAH, Creston Books, May 2019
Vivian Kirkfield’s career path is paved with picture books. From shelving them in a children’s library to reading them with her kindergarteners, to writing them for children around the globe, her goal has always been to help kids become lovers of books and reading. She is the author of the above picture books forthcoming in 2019, as well as Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe (Little Bee, Spring 2020); and From Here to There: Inventions that Changed the Way the World Moves (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Spring 2020). Her parent-teacher guide, Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking (MoneyPenny Press, September 2010) is a valuable resource for child-care facilitators. And to help fellow writers follow their dream, she hosts the #50PreciousWords Writing Challenge where the top prize is a chance to submit to her very own agent. Vivian lives in the quaint New England village of Amherst, New Hampshire where the old stone library is her favorite hangout and her nine-year old grandson is her favorite Monopoly partner.

Website: Picture Books Help Kids Soar 
Twitter: @viviankirkfield
Facebook: @viviankirkfield

PJ McIlvaine

LITTLE LENA AND THE BIG TABLE, Big Belly Book Co., Spring 2019
​DRAGON ROAR, MacLaren-Cochrane, TBA
PJ McIlvaine is a prolific kid lit writer/screenwriter/journalist with two upcoming picture books: DRAGON ROAR, a picture book about a sick dragon who has lost his roar and the brave village girl who helps him find it again through acts of kindness, and LITTLE LENA AND THE BIG TABLE, a picture book about a determined little girl who thinks sitting at the kid's table is boring only to discover the big table isn't much better. PJ is also a co-host of #PBPitch, the premiere pitch party for picture book creators. PJ has been published in numerous outlets including The New York Times, and Newsday. PJ is also a regular contributor for the Children's Book Insider newsletter, writing about the path to publication, and featuring interviews with established and debut kid lit authors. In addition, PJ’s critically acclaimed Showtime original family movie MY HORRIBLE YEAR with Mimi Rogers, Karen Allen and Eric Stoltz, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy. PJ makes her home in Eastern Long Island and is the exhausted, proud grandmother of four who are an endless source of inspiration, exasperation, and perspiration. When not writing or running after someone or something or taking the dog out for a walk in all kinds of weather, PJ likes to bake brownies and consumes copious amounts of vanilla ice cream after 9PM.

Facebook: pj.mcilvaine
Twitter: @pjmcilvaine

Jen Malia 

TOO STICKY!: A STORY OF AN AUTISTIC GIRL WITH SENSORY ISSUES, Albert Whitman, Fall 2019
Jen Malia is an autistic author, professor, speaker, advocate, and world traveler.  Her debut children’s picture book, Too Sticky! is about an autistic girl who loves the science of slime, despite sensory issues—like sticky hands—that get in the way.  The main character is based on both her own and her daughter’s experiences living with autism and sensory issues.  She was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in her late 30s, on the same day as her daughter.  She has written autism-related essays for the  The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, Glamour, and Woman’s Day among others.  She is Associate Professor of English at Norfolk State University.  During her four years as an American expat in the United Arab Emirates, she was Assistant Professor of Writing at the American University of Sharjah.  She has been to twenty countries around the globe.  She lives in Virginia Beach with her husband and three kids.
 
Website: JenMalia.com
Facebook: facebook.com/momwithautism
Twitter: twitter.com/momwithautism
Instagram:  instagram.com/munchkintreks
Linked In:  linkedin.com/in/momwithautism

*Jen's publishing date has been pushed to 2020. Look for her then!
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Laura Roettiger

ALIANA REACHES FOR THE MOON, Eifrig Publishing, Feb 2019
Laura Roettiger has enjoyed working with children ever since she was no longer considered a child herself. She was a reading specialist and elementary teacher in Chicago, IL before moving to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado where she worked in Environmental Education and is now a mentor for reading and writing at a STEM school. Her superpower is encouraging curiosity in children and letting them know she believes in them. She has three children of her own whose curiosity and creativity led two of them into STEM related professions. 

Website: LauraRoettigerBooks.com
Twitter: @ljrwritenow

 Gayle Krause

DADDY CAN YOU SEE THE MOON?, Clear Fork/SPORK, April 2019
Gayle C. Krause is a PAL member of SCBWI, and past member of the Poet’s Garage. She serves on Angie Karcher’s Rhyming Revolution Selection Committee, choosing the “best” rhyming picture book from 2015 to 2018. She also serves on the YA Advisory Board for Clear Fork Publishing. A Master educator, she’s taught Children’s Literature to prospective teachers at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Ms. Krause writes poetry, picture books, MG, and YA novels. Rebecca Angus of Golden Wheat Literary Agency represents her. 
​
Website: www.gayleckrause.com.
Twitter: @GeeCeeK

Danielle Dufayet

YOU ARE YOUR STRONG, Magination Press, March 2019
Danielle Dufayet, born in Yonkers, New York, now lives in sunny California where she writes children’s books and paints. She also teaches English and Public Speaking (Self-Empowerment) to grades K-12. Danielle read her first picture book (Little Raccoon and the Thing in the Pool) when she was 18 whereupon she was blown away by its simplicity, timelessness and transformative power. That’s when she knew it was her calling. Thirty five years and a Master’s Degree later, she finally made her dream come true and she’ll have TWO books out in 2019 - one about inner strength and the other about self-love/compassion.
​
Website: www.danielledufayetbooks.com
Twitter: @DanielleDufayet

​

Kourtney LaFavre

IF SUN COULD SPEAK, Clear Fork/Spork Publishing, 2019
Kourtney is a writer, educator, and a former elementary teacher. She lives and learns with the rhythms of nature in the woods of NH. As a homeschooling mother of four, she believes the world is their classroom and searches for beauty and lessons. Kourtney is a life-long learner, trying to live a life filled with purpose and passion. She writes to inform and inspire.

Website: http://kourtneylafavre.com
Facebook: kourtneylafavre.writer
Instagram: @kourtneylafavre

Sherry Howard

Sherry Howard lives in Middletown, Kentucky, where her busy household is two dancing bears short of a circus, but she still finds time to write. She was a teacher, consultant, and principal in one of the largest urban/suburban school districts in America. Her poems and stories appear in journals and anthologies, and now she enjoys publishing books for kids to love. ​
​
Website: www.sherryhoward.org
​Twitter: @SherLHoward ​

Elaine Kiely Kearns

NOAH NOASAURUS, Albert Whitman &  Company, April 2019​
ELAINE KIELY KEARNS is an author of children’s books and an elementary school teacher. She is also the co-founder of the children’s literature website KidLit411.She lives in New York with her husband, their two beautiful daughters, and a menagerie of animals, which, sadly, does not include a dinosaur. 
Find her online at www.elainekielykearns.com.

Julie Abery

LITTLE TIGER, Amicus Ink, March 2019
LITTLE PANDA, Amicus Ink, March 2019
YUSRA SWIMS, Creative Editions, Fall 2019
Julie Abery is a children’s author and Pre-K teacher. Originally from England, she has spent half her life living in Europe, bringing up her three (now grown up) children and experiencing new languages and cultures. She now calls Switzerland home.
Julie taught Pre-K for many years at international schools. Through those years, picture books were her friends and allies bringing rhyme, rhythm and repetition to the ears of her young students. It is the magic that picture books create for children that inspires her to write.

Website: Little Red Story Shed
Twitter: @juliedawnabery
Facebook: @julieabery

Lauren Kerstein

ROSIE THE DRAGON AND CHARLIE MAKE WAVES, Two Lions, June 2019
Lauren Kerstein is an author and psychotherapist. She is a Jersey girl at heart who loves reading, drinking tea, and devouring chocolate. Lauren currently lives in Colorado with her husband, Josh, their two dragons...er, daughters, Sarah and Danielle, and Hudson, the dog.  Her picture book, ROSIE THE DRAGON AND CHARLIE MAKE WAVES, is swimming to shelves near you in June 2019. Lauren also writes books in the mental health field. She is the author of A Week of Switching, Shifting, and Stretching, and My Sensory Book. Lauren’s latest book, tentatively titled: Emotion Regulation: Helping Children and Adolescents Take Charge of Their Feelings will be available soon. Her writing goals are simple. Read voraciously. Embrace feedback. Grow each day. Work hard. Be passionate. Write courageously. Touch children’s hearts.

Website: www.LaurenKerstein.net
Twitter: @LaurenKerstein
Facebook: @laurenkersteinauthor and @laurenkerstein
Instagram: @laurenkerstein

Mirka Hokkanen

FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN: AN ANIMAL COUNTING BOOK, Pomegranate Press, March 2019
Mirka Hokkanen is a printmaker, designer, illustrator and author who grew up in Finland. Her favorite things there were found in the woods and in her grandmother’s house which both continue to be a source of inspiration for her art.

Mirka moved to the U.S. in 1998 to attend Rockford College in Illinois (BFA 2002). She received both Master of Arts (2004) and Master of Fine Arts (2006) degrees in printmaking from University of Dallas, TX. When not creating a menagerie in the studio she takes care of her live one- which consists of three wild kids, a cat, a dog and a husband. Her works continue to be exhibited both nationally and internationally and her first illustrated book, Four Otters Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book, comes out in March 2019 with Pomegranate Kids.

Website: www.mirkah.com
Twitter: @mirkahokkanen
Facebook: @picadoodlepress
Instagram: mirkahokkanen

Tina Shepardson

WALKOUT, Clear Fork/Spork Publishing, 2019
An award winning teacher for 30 years, Tina has shared books with children her entire life . As a teen, she wrote books, tied them with string, and read them to children she babysat. She is an active member of SCBWI, an admin for the Debut Picture Book Study Group, a Children's Book Academy graduate and a member of 12x12. In her spare time, she can be found in Upstate New York with her family walking their akitas, spending  time at camp, eating chocolate and  enjoying the latest snowstorm.

​Learn more at www.tinashepardson.com 

Jennifer Buchet

LITTLE MEDUSA'S HAIR DO-LEMMA, Clear Fork/Spork Publishing, 2019
Jennifer Buchet is an award-winning author, major foodie, and a pre-kindergarten teacher. She's written everything from angst-filled diaries and fourth grade newspapers, to advertising copy and blogs. Yet her heart has always belonged to kid lit. She has been a feature contributor for Cricket Magazines since 2012, writing over fifty articles and interviews. She is also a member of many writing communities, including SCBWI and 12x12. When Jennifer's not helping coach softball or managing book fairs, she is hunting down that elusive creature called spare time, when she enjoys a good read, creates magical meals, and crushes her family in games of Catan. She hopes to one day live in an Irish country cottage, writing her days away amongst family and friends.

Follow on Twitter @Yangmommy
Website launching in January 2019

Jolene Gutiérrez

MAC AND CHEESE AND THE PERSONAL SPACE CASE, Cleark Fork/Spork, Fall 2019
Jolene Gutiérrez grew up on a farm in northeastern Colorado and now lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Jolene has been a school librarian for nearly 25 years and spends her days sharing children’s books and her nights writing them. She’s a wife of 20 years and a mama to two teenage humans and three preteen dogs. She’s an active member of SCBWI and The Author’s Guild, a Children’s Book Academy scholarship winner and graduate, a We Need Diverse Books mentorship finalist, a Writing with the Stars 2018 mentee (with picture book author Stacy McAnulty), a Highlights Foundation scholarship winner, and the winner of the Cynthia Levinson nonfiction picture book biography scholarship to the Writing Barn.

Website:  www.jolenegutierrez.com
Facebook: facebook.com/writerjolene
Twitter: twitter.com/writerjolene
Instagram: instagram.com/writerjolene
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/writerjolene

Heather Bell

 MAC AND CHEESE AND THE PERSONAL SPACE CASE, Cleark Fork/Spork, Fall 2019 (illustrator)
Heather Bell whole-heartedly believes that hidden within our everyday lives is a secret realm glimpsed through books, music, and children’s laughter. Holding a BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute, she is a member of SCBWI, a Children’s Book Academy graduate, and a mommy. When not illustrating and writing, she searches out story ideas as an undercover school bus driver. 

Website: heatherbellbooks.com
Twitter: @heatherbell37
Instagram: @heather.bell37