RENÉE AHDIEH is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger. In her spare time, she likes to dance salsa and collect shoes. She is passionate about all kinds of curry, rescue dogs, and college basketball. The first few years of her life were spent in a high-rise in South Korea; consequently, Renée enjoys having her head in the clouds. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and their tiny overlord of a dog.
RAE CARSON is the New York Times bestselling author of fantasy and historical fiction, including the Girl of Fire and Thorns series and the Gold Seer trilogy, which have won multiple awards and honors. Her books tend to contain adventure, magic, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. Rae lives in Arizona with her husband and cats and the occasional scorpion.
BRANDY COLBERT is the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel Pointe and Little & Lion. She lives and writes in Los Angeles.
KATIE COTUGNO is the New York Times bestselling author of 99 Days, How to Love, and Fireworks. She studied writing, literature, and publishing at Emerson College and received her MFA in fiction at Lesley University. Katie is a Pushcart Prize nominee whose work has appeared in Iowa Review, Mississippi Review, and Argestes, among others. She lives in Boston with her husband.
LAMAR GILES writes novels and short stories for teens and adults. He is the author of the Edgar Award–nominated novels Fake ID and Endangered, and of Overturned. He is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books and resides in Virginia with his wife.
TESSA GRATTON has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. After traveling the world with her military family, she acquired a BA (and the important parts of an MA) in gender studies, then settled down in Kansas to tell stories about monsters, magic, and kissing. She’s the author of the Blood Journals series and Gods of New Asgard series, co-author of YA writing books The Curiosities and The Anatomy of Curiosity, as well as dozens of short stories available in anthologies and on merryfates.com. Her current projects include full-time writer for Tremontaine at Serial Box Publishing, a new YA fantasy from McElderry Books in 2018, and her debut adult fantasy, The Queens of Innis Lear from Tor, also in 2018.
BETHANY HAGEN is the author of Landry Park and Jubilee Manor. A former librarian, she lives with her spouse and two children in Kansas City.
JUSTINA IRELAND enjoys dark chocolate, dark humor, and is not too proud to admit that she’s still afraid of the dark. She lives with her husband, kid, and dog in Pennsylvania. She is the author of Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows. Her essay “Me, Some Random Guy, and the Army of Darkness” appears in The V-Word, an anthology of personal essays by women about having sex for the first time. And her forthcoming book Dread Nation will be available in 2018.
ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON is the author of six novels for adults and young adults. Her novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Her most recent, Love Is the Drug, won the Andre Norton Award. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, Zombies vs. Unicorns, and Welcome to Bordertown. She lives in Mexico City, where she is getting her master’s in Mesoamerican studies.
E. K. JOHNSTON had several jobs and one vocation before she became a published writer. If she’s learned anything, it’s that things turn out weird sometimes, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. Well, that and how to muscle through awkward fanfic because it’s about a pairing she likes. Her books range from contemporary fantasy (The Story of Owen, Prairie Fire), to fairy-tale reimaginings (A Thousand Nights, Spindle), and from small-town Ontario (Exit, Pursued by a Bear) to a galaxy far, far away (New York Times #1 bestseller Star Wars: Ahsoka). She has no plans to rein anything in.
JULIE MURPHY is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Ramona Blue, Dumplin’, and Side Effects May Vary. She lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cats who tolerate her. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading, traveling, watching movies so bad they’re good, or hunting down the perfect slice of pizza. Before writing full-time, she held numerous jobs, such as wedding dress consultant, failed barista, and ultimately, librarian. Learn more about her at www.juliemurphywrites.com.
GARTH NIX has worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. He has been a full-time writer since 2001, and his books include the award-winning and bestselling Old Kingdom series: Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Clariel, and Goldenhand; the science fiction novels Shade’s Children and A Confusion of Princes; and many fantasy novels for children, including The Ragwitch; the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence; The Keys to the Kingdom series; and the forthcoming Frogkisser! He is also the author of Newt’s Emerald, a “Regency romance with magic”; and with Sean Williams has cowritten the Troubletwisters series and Spirit Animals: Blood Ties.
More than five million copies of Garth’s books have been sold around the world, his books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, the Sunday Times, and the Australian, and his work has been translated into forty-one languages. He lives in Sydney, Australia.
NATALIE C. PARKER wears many hats: author, editor, organizer. She is the author of the Southern Gothic duology Beware the Wild (a Junior Library Guild Selection) and Behold the Bones. She is also the founder of Madcap Retreats, an organization offering a yearly calendar of workshops and retreats for aspiring and established writers. Though she earned her BA in English literature from the University of Southern Mississippi and her MA in gender studies from the University of Cincinnati, she now lives on the Kansas prairie with her partner. Three Sides of a Heart is her first anthology.
VERONICA ROTH is the author of the bestselling Divergent series, including Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four: A Divergent Collection, and the science fiction/fantasy novel Carve the Mark. She lives in Chicago with her husband and dog.
SABAA TAHIR is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the young adult fantasies An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night. She grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s eighteen-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash, and playing guitar badly. She began writing while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks, and all things nerd. Her books have been published in thirty-four languages. Visit her website at www.SabaaTahir.com and follow her on Twitter @SabaaTahir.
BRENNA YOVANOFF was raised in a barn, a tent, and a tepee and was homeschooled until high school. She spent her formative years in Arkansas, in a town heavily populated by snakes, where sometimes they would drop turkeys out of the sky. When she was five, she moved to Colorado, where it snows on a regular basis but never snows turkeys. She holds an MFA in fiction from Colorado State University and is the author of New York Times bestseller The Replacement, The Space Between, Paper Valentine, and Fiendish. Her most recent novel, Places No One Knows, is out now. She currently lives in Denver.