2025 Authors & Workshops​

Sara Alfageeh

Sara Alfageeh is a Jordanian-American illustrator and creative director in San Francisco. She is passionate about history, the color yellow, and girls with swords. Sara wakes up every morning and chooses to be a good friend and a terrible singer. Sara is looking for an arch-nemesis, if you're interested in the role please reach out.

​Writing Workshop
"Bad Artist, Good Human"
​Let’s talk about how you cannot fear failure or mistakes as a storyteller, and the different methods and ways we can practice that. Never be afraid to start or finish a project again.

Featured Book
Squire (YA) by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

 Martha  Brockenbrough​

Martha Brockenbrough has one backwards tooth, two cats, and a collection of medieval weapons—including a suit of armor (but that one is 100 percent fake).

Writing Workshop
Make a Fairy Tale Your Own

Featured Books
Future Tense
Into the Bloodred Woods
To Catch a Thief
​(all MS/HS)
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Laura Gao​

Laura Gao (she/they) is a self-proclaimed Pictionary champion and classroom doodler. This lent itself towards a successful career as a comic artist, though they'd much rather spend their time binging anime and petting all the neighborhood strays. Catch their adventures at www.lauragao.com or @heylauragao on social media.

​Writing Workshop
Comic Mad Libs: In an interactive remix of the nostalgic wordplay game, students will tap into their inner artist and learn how illustrations complement writing (and when they don't). No real art skills required!

Featured Book
Kirby’s Lessons for Falling (In Love) (MS/HS)

Jas Hammonds​

Jas Hammonds (they/she) is the author of We Deserve Monuments and Thirsty. They are also a flight attendant who is constantly creeping on what passengers are reading. They currently live in New Jersey.

Writing Workshop
Wherever You Go (There You Are): A writing workshop about setting that delves into the good, bad, and uniqueness of the places we call home. We'll talk about what makes a compelling setting and how our characters occupy those spaces.

​Featured Book
Thirsty (HS)

Shaun David Hutchinson​

Shaun David Hutchinson is the author of numerous books for young adults after having survived being run over by a giant ball when it was in fourth grade. He grew up in Jupiter, FL and never got tired of people asking how near that was to Uranus. In addition to writing, Shaun plays piano and guitar, and enjoys baking (mostly to give away as apologies to his neighbors for the piano and guitar playing).

​Writing Workshop
Finding your voice: There are countless stories, but only one you. How to find your voice and use what makes you unique to tell compelling stories.

Featured Books
The School For Invisible Boys (MS)
A Home for Unusual Monsters (MS), new February 12, 2025​

Tae Keller​

Tae Keller is the Newbery Medal winning and #1 NYT bestselling author of numerous books for kids. She grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she fell in love with the sun (she misses it!). Now, she lives in Seattle with her husband, a multitude of books, and an incredibly needy dog named Butter.

​Writing Workshop
The Destination is a Journey: Everything I've Learned About Setting in 40 Minutes

Featured Books
Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone (MS)
When You Trap a Tiger (MS)
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Michael Leali​

Michael Leali (he/him) is many things. He’s an award-winning writer, a veteran teacher, and an enthusiastic bookseller. He’s the author of The Civil War of Amos Abernathy, Matteo, and The Truth About Triangles. Michael reads constantly. (Don’t ask him which book is his favorite—there are too many!) He’s a huge fan of Top Chef. He loves playing Mario Kart and building Legos. (He’s very proud of the Lego winter village he sets up every December.) Bananas used to be his favorite fruit, and now he’s allergic to them. He was a historical reenactor a child. He can wiggle his ears. His favorite color is green even though being color deficient (a.k.a. a little bit color blind) makes it difficult to tell the difference between green and orange sometimes. If you want to know even more about Michael and the books he's written, check out michaelleali.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Instagram @michaelleali, too!

Writing Workshop
Letters Tell the Story: An Epistolary Writing Workshop

​Featured Books
The Truth About Triangles (MS/HS)​The Civil War of Amos Abernathy (MS/HS) 
Matteo (MS/HS)

Jenna Lee-Yun​

Jenna Lee-Yun always struggles to write these bios because she considers herself to be pretty uninteresting, especially compared to all of the fascinating people (both real and fictional) she's surrounded by as a Clinical Psychologist, a children's author, and parent to her son, daughter, and mini-goldendoodle (yes, I've included the dog as a human child and you would too if you met him).

​Writing Workshop
Creating Flawed Characters: This writing workshop will explore the psychology of characters to develop flaws that feed the action of the story.
 
Featured Books
The Last Rhee Witch (MS)
The Last Rhee Witch and the Nine-Tailed Fox (MS), new on May 6, 2025
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Lish McBride

Lish McBride is a professional writer, former bookseller, and amateur goblin living in the PNW. In the crime of the century, she tricked not one but two universities into giving her degrees, ending up with Masters in Fiction from the University of New Orleans. (They cannot have it back, either, as she has invoked the ancient law of “no backsies.”) She has no real hobbies beyond reading books and her ultimate dream is to have her own castle and one of the libraries with the wheely ladder. Even though she hisses at people and can be easily won over by snacks, she is not, in fact, three raccoons and a confused possum in a trench coat, no matter what she tells you.

​Writing Workshop
Writers get to play Dr. Frankenstein all of the time--building their own people from the ground up. In this workshop you'll learn the same techniques, only you'll get to build your own creature instead! Whether it's your take on a classic, like vampires, or something uniquely your own. Be ready to brainstorm, write, and hopefully have a little fun!
 
Featured Books
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (MS/HS)​
Necromancing the Stone (MS/HS)​
Firebug (MS/HS)​
Pyromantic(MS/HS)​
Curses (MS/HS)​
Red in Tooth & Claw​ (MS/HS)​
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Allie Millington​

I'm Allie! I love writing about quirky characters and embarrassing situations, probably because I have so many to choose from my childhood: falling face first into a massive cactus, being the only one at school to dress up for Halloween (as a giant Banana, no less), and spending hours every day throwing a ball at the side of my house to come up with story ideas (where my neighbors could hear me talking to myself). Plus side: I got plenty of practice telling stories, and I also now have creepily good hand-eye coordination. These days I use typewriters to bash out my story ideas, and sometimes they tell me their stories back.

​Writing Workshop
'Creating characters you--and your readers--want to hang out with'. As writers, we spend a lot of time with our characters. And if we're not having fun with them, chances our readers won't either. So, how do we craft interesting, original characters that readers won't want to put down? We'll look at the basic things every character needs, how to go beyond that into creating a unique, relatable crew that leaps off the page, and finding a writing voice that sticks.

​Featured Books
Olivetti (MS)
​Once for Yes (MS)

Thien Pham​

Thien Pham is a graphic novelist and educator based in Oakland, CA. He is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Sumo and the illustrator for the middle-grade graphic novel Level Up, written by Gene Luen Yang. His latest book Family Style, a memoir about his family's immigration to America told through the lens of food, came out in June 2023. Family Style has been on numerous best-of lists including the Washington Post’s “Top Ten Graphic Novels of 2023” and Publishers Weekly's “20 Books We Love.” Family Style was a finalist for the ALA YALSA Excellence in Non-Fiction and Won an Eisner award For best Memoir Graphic Novel. Currently, Pham is working on his next graphic novel, teaching, and eating. A lot. Follow Thien on Instagram at @thiendog

Writing Workshop
Create your own Memoir comic workshop, students will explore the art of memoir through comics! Using a simple four-panel format, you’ll learn how to translate personal memories, emotions, and everyday moments into a powerful visual and narrative experience. Whether you're new to comics or have some experience, this workshop is perfect for anyone interested in telling their own stories in a creative and unique way.

​Featured Book
Family Style (MS)

Will Taylor​

The first important thing to know about Will Taylor is how much he loses his cool when he meets literally any dog, but especially longhaired dachshunds. The second is that his life goal is to someday write something as perfect as the Duck Tales theme song. You can find out more, including stuff about trapeze, goosebumps, and his books, at willtaylorbooks.com.

​Writing Workshop
Ancient Spells & Cute Curses: Writing Magic Systems That Work
Fantasy? Speculative fiction? Whatever you call it, a story stuffed with magic is always a blast to write—but sometimes it can go very, very wrong. Come learn the subtle science and weirdly strict art of building your own magic system from a bestselling author who's made every mistake so you don't have to. No clunky charms or half-baked hexes here! You'll leave with all the tricks for a magic system so bewitching it will change the world—and your writing—forever.

​Featured Book
The School for Wicked Witches, Book 1 (MS)
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Booki Vivat​

Booki Vivat is the author and illustrator of MEET ME ON MERCER STREET and the FRAZZLED series. For years, she has kept an illustrated daily planner where she doodles her everyday life! Before becoming an author-illustrator, she taught middle school English abroad, fell off a ladder during a very brief stint as a bookseller, and worked in children's publishing in New York City. Also, her name is actually Booki!

​Writing Workshop
MEET ME ON MERCER STREET is a story about art, observation, and community. Author-illustrator Booki Vivat will share her creative process of storytelling through text and art and reveal some fun exclusive insights about creating the Mercer Street neighborhood. In this interactive workshop, students will brainstorm ideas and collaborate as a group with Booki on a live-drawing activity. They’ll also have the opportunity to use the skills they’ve learned to create a neighborhood spot of their own!

​Featured Book
Meet Me on Mercer Street (MS)
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