2024 YA & Middle Grades Authors
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Maria E. Andreu is the author of Julieta and the Romeos (Balzer +Bray, 2023), as well as Love in English (B+B, 2021). Her work has been named to NPR's Books We Love list, Bank Street's Best Children’s Books of the Year, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults and as Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections. Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, The Washington Post, NJ.com, and the Newark Star-Ledger. Maria lives in New Jersey with her two children, two bossy cats, and way too many potted plants.
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Erin Entrada Kelly received the 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, a 2021 Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, and the APALA Award for Children's Literature, among other honors. She is a New York Times bestseller whose work has been translated into many languages. Erin has a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies and liberal arts from McNeese State University and an MFA from Rosemont College. She teaches in the MFAC program at Hamline University and lives in Delaware.
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Gae Polisner is a lawyer by trade, but a writer and artist by calling. Her books have received multiple awards including Bank Street Bests, Pennsylvania School Library award, and Wisconsin's Children's Choice Award. Consider the Octopus garnered a 9/10 rating from Time for Kids Magazine and The Memory of Things is used in classrooms around the country. Gae lives on Long Island with her husband, two now-grown musical sons, and a suspiciously-fictional looking dog. When she isn't writing, you can find her in a pool or the open waters off Long Island. She has swum a 10K and holds out hope that one day her wetsuit will morph her into a superhero.
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DIANNE K. SALERNI is the author of eight YA and middle grade novels, including Junior Library Guild Selections Eleanor, Alice, & the Roosevelt Ghosts,Jadie in Five Dimensions, and The Carrefour Curse, as well as the state award nominated Eighth Day series. Dianne was a Pennsylvania public school teacher for 25 years before leaving the profession to spend time hanging around creepy cemeteries, attending ghost hunting classes, and climbing 2000 year-old pyramids in the name of book research. In her spare time, she volunteers at her local animal rescue shelter, walking dogs and serving the needs of the feline overlords.
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Darlene Beck Jacobson is a former educator who has loved writing since she was a girl. She is the author of the middle grade historical novel Wheels of Change, (Creston 2014) which is a 2015 Notable Social-Studies Trade Book from the Children’s Book Council (CBC), A 2015 Mighty Girl Pick, and The Grateful American Book Prize Honorable mention for 2015. Her middle grade novel-in-verse Wishes, Dares and How to Stand Up to a Bully (Creston 2020)is a Notable Verse Novel for 2021 from the CBC. Her contemporary verse novelMy Own Kind of Brave (Reycraft) will be released in 2026.
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Eric Smith is a literary agent and Young Adult author from Elizabeth, New Jersey.
As an agent with P.S. Literary, he’s worked on New York Times bestselling and award-winning books. His recent novels include the YALSA Best Books for Young Readers selection Don’t Read the Comments (Inkyard Press, 2020), You Can Go Your Own Way (Inkyard Press, 2021), and the anthologies Battle of the Bands (Candlewick, 2021) and First-Year Orientation (Candlewick, 2023), both co-edited with award-winning author Lauren Gibaldi.
In 2022 Abrams published Jagged Little Pill: The Novel, which was written in collaboration with Alanis Morissette, Academy award-winner Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, and is an adaptation of the Grammy and Tony award winning musical.
His latest novel , With or Without You, a rom-com about two teens working in rival cheesesteak trucks, published in 2023, and was a Junior Library Guild selection.
His other books include the IndieBound bestseller The Geek’s Guide to Dating (Quirk), the Inked duology (Bloomsbury), and The Girl and the Grove (Flux). His writing has sold into nine languages.
A lifelong lover of writing and books, he holds a Bachelor of Arts from Kean University in English, and a Master’s in English from Arcadia University, where he currently mentors MFA students. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and son, and enjoys video games, pop punk, and crying over every movie.
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Besides her Evolution Revolution trilogy, Charlotte’s books include the co-authored Blonde OPS (Thomas Dunne/Griffin) and the Sirenz series: Sirenz, Sirenz Back In Fashion (Flux), and two anthologies: Beware the Little White Rabbit (Alice Through the Wormhole, Leap Books) and Scare Me to Sleep (Faces in the Wood, charitable to buy books for underserved children). She’s also written numerous magazine and newspaper articles. She has given writing presentations at NJSCBWI conferences, workshops, book events, libraries, and schools. Having completed her MFA, she’s polishing up several MG, YA, NA, and adult novels and stories, most with speculative fiction elements.
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Kimberly Behre Kenna, a former fifth-grade teacher, is the author of the Brave Girls Collection for middle-grade readers. Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade is a National Indies Excellence Award finalist and was short-listed for the Green Earth Book Award. Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm is a Nautilus Book Award winner, a Foreword Indies Winner, an Eric Hoffer Award winner, and was short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize. Kimberly’s books go beyond simple mysteries, inspiring discussions about important topics such as mental health and trauma. They are a call to action for young people to speak their stories and connect with the healing power of nature.
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Angeli Rafer is a Filipino-American illustrator and comic artist based in the diner capital of the world (AKA New Jersey). She is a self-taught digital artist, with a passion for telling stories about everyday magic — from cooking and first crushes to cute animals and bad puns. She is the comic artist and author of two Bailey School Kids graphic novel adaptations: Ghosts Don't Eat Potato Chips and Dragons Don't Cook PIzza.
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A Jersey Girl by birth, Kate Szegda is a retired, middle-school language arts teacher.