Want to learn more about the storytellers you’ll see on our stage this year? Scroll down to view our featured authors and poets! 

FEATURED AUTHORS AND POETS

  • GRAPHIC NOVEL, FANTASY, YA

    Jorge is an author and Emmy-nominated writer. Based in New Jersey, he works for Fred Rogers Productions in Pittsburgh. His graphic novel series include: The Chronicles of Claudette (ages 6-10) “A rollicking fun story.” (NY Times); Call Me Iggy (ages 13-18) "A pitch-perfect example of teenage explorations of cultural identity." (Kirkus), and Monster Locker (ages 8-13) "Laugh-out-loud humor" (SLJ).

  • ROMANCE

    Emma R. Alban is a USA Today Bestselling Author and Screenwriter. Raised in the Hudson Valley, she now lives in Los Angeles, enjoying the eternal sunshine, ocean, and mountains. She is the author of Don't Want You Like a Best Friend, You’re the Problem, It’s You, and Like in Love with You.

  • ROMANCE

    TJ Alexander is a Lambda Literary Award finalist and USA Today bestselling author who writes about queer love. Originally from Florida, they received their MA in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. They live in New York City with their wife, cats, and various houseplants.

  • HORROR, YA FANTASY

    Kylie Lee Baker is the Sunday Times bestselling author of dark fantasy and horror novels such as The Keeper of Night, The Scarlet Alchemist, and Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng. Her writing is informed by her heritage (Japanese, Chinese, and Irish), as well as her experiences living abroad as both a student and teacher. 

  • WEIRD WESTERN, HORROR, CHICANO FICTION, ECO-HORROR/CLIMATE FICTION

    Nicholas Belardes’s work often combines elements of literary, horror, and science fiction. The New York Times Book Review said his first book, The Deading “perfectly balances social critique, lyricism and ghastliness. It’s a claustrophobic mosaic of a novel, and an outstanding debut.” Belardes’s follow up, Ten Sleep (2025), blends elements of eco-horror with Western and Chicano fiction.

  • YA/MG REALISTIC & SPECULATIVE FICTION

    Ciera Burch is a lifelong reader and writer. She has a BA from American University and an MFA from Emerson College. She is the author of Finch House, Something Kindred, Camp Twisted Pine, Out of Step, Into You, and Olivia Gray Will Not Fade Away. Finch House was a JLG Gold Standard Selection and a New York Times Kids Year of Books selection.

    When not reading, she can be found playing D&D. 

  • HISTORICAL FICTION

    Originally from Florida, Chanel Cleeton grew up on stories of her family's exodus from Cuba following the Cuban Revolution. Her passion for politics and history has inspired her academic studies and her writing. Chanel is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty books including Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Next Year in Havana and most recently The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes. 

  • ROMANTASY, FANTASY

    Mai Corland is a New York Times and international bestselling author of new adult fantasy. Her romantasy murder mystery Verity Guild will be out May 5

  • FICTION

    Sheldon Costa is an award-winning fiction writer who has been published in the Georgia Review, Conjunctions, Electric Literature, and other outlets. He holds an MFA from the Ohio State University and lives in rural Missouri with his wife and three cats. The Great Work is his debut novel.

  • ROMANCE

    Liana De la Rosa is a USA Today bestselling romance author who writes historical and contemporary romance with Latine characters that challenge the world around them. When she’s not writing, Liana is listening to true crime podcasts while she wrangles her spirited brood of children with her husband in Arizona.

  • YA, HORROR, HISTORICAL

    Ryan Douglass is the New York Times bestselling author of the YA novels The Taking of Jake Livingston, The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay, and Night of Madness. His work explores the ways young people fight to survive in hostile worlds. He lives in Atlanta with his dog and spends his free time baking ambitious desserts and scoping out true crime documentaries.

  • FANTASY, HORROR

    Frederic S. Durbin’s most recent novel, The Country Under Heaven, was named the Best Horror Novel of the Year by the New York Public Library. It received starred reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. His novel A Green and Ancient Light was named a Reading List Honor Book by the American Library Association. He teaches creative writing to high-schoolers.

  • NONFICTION

    Julia Flint is a writer from the Appalachian Rust Belt. With a background in qualitative research, she has worked as a community health research assistant, and an instructor with the Global Health Initiative at Ohio University. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

  • CHILDREN’S

    Erin Frankel is a children’s book author who loves telling stories of empathy and wonder. Her picture books include Mary Oliver, Holding on to Wonder, A Plate of Hope: The Inspiring Story of Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen and forthcoming Piece by Piece: How Stephen Sondheim Made Musical Puzzles Come Alive. She lives with her family in Pittsburgh, where she writes, teaches, and hopes.

  • YA, FANTASY, ROMANTASY

    Cassandra James grew up in a mixed immigrant family with a penchant for storytelling, so becoming a writer was almost inevitable. After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in English focusing on Creative Writing, she landed in Florida with her swoon-worthy husband, where she spends her time cooking Colombian food, obsessing over Broadway musicals, and occasionally swashbuckling.

  • HORROR, FOLK HORROR

    Carter Keane resides in and is inspired by the frequently odd and often horrifying state of Ohio. Keane writes books where the monster and the monstrous, in the end, are not the same. Morsel is their debut.

  • SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

    Isabel J. Kim lives near New York City in an apartment filled with books and swords. She is the author of numerous short stories and has won the Nebula, Locus, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and reprinted in multiple best of the year anthologies. When she’s not writing, she’s practicing law or podcasting. Sublimation is her first novel.

  • NONFICTION, CINEMA, HORROR

    Daniel Kraus is a New York Times bestselling writer of novels, TV, and film. His latest novel, Whalefall, was a Best Book of 2023 from NPR, the New York Times, Amazon, Chicago Tribune, and more. He has cowritten novels with Guillermo del Toro and George A. Romero, and has won the Bram Stoker Award, Scribe Award, two Odyssey Awards, and more.

  • HORROR

    CJ Leede is a horror writer, hiker, and Trekkie. She is the author of Maeve Fly and American Rapture. Her debut novel Maeve Fly won the Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award and Splatterpunk Award, and earned a Bram Stoker Award nomination. When she is not driving around the country, CJ can be found in LA with her boyfriend and rescue dogs.

  • FANTASY

    Julie Leong is the USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Teller of Small Fortunes and The Keeper of Magical Things. She is a daughter of Malaysian Chinese immigrants, a graduate of Yale University, and works in tech. Julie currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and fluffy dog, and when she’s not writing, enjoys making unnecessary spreadsheets and flambéing things.

  • ROMANCE, WOMEN’S FICTION

    Chloe is a USA Today bestselling author who writes romantic fiction reflecting her belief that everyone deserves a love story. When not dreaming up her next novel, you'll find her reading, trying new recipes, savoring nature, and soaking up time with her big, beautiful family.

  • Young Adult

    Michael G. Long is the author of several books on politics, nonviolent protests, and civil rights history. His commentary about civil rights has appeared in the Afro, the Los Angeles Times, and ESPN. He lives in Lower Allen Township, PA.

  • MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY

    Meg Medina served as the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She is the author of many notable works for young readers of all ages, including her newest middle-grade novel and first fantasy, Graciela in the Abyss and Newbery Medal–winning and bestselling book Merci Suárez Changes Gears. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she grew up in New York, and now lives in Virginia.

  • ENVIRONMENTAL, GRAPHIC NOVEL, MEMOIR, ACTIVISM, SOCIAL JUSTICE

    Denali Sai Nalamalapu (they/them) is the author of Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance. They are a climate organizer and comic artist living in Southwest Virginia, originally from Southern Maine and Southern India.

  • PICTURE BOOK, COMIC, NATIVE AMERICAN, FANTASY, HORROR, HISTORICAL

    Born on the shore of Lake Superior in 1983, Winona is an illustrator and author originally from Duluth, Minnesota, now living in Pennsylvania. A member of the Leech Lake Band of Minnesota Ojibwe who identifies as Two Spirit and queer, her work focuses on diversity and representation, especially of Native and Ojibwe culture. Her work often incorporates traditional beadwork.

  • CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK

    Malcolm Newsome is a traditionally published children's book author and cyber security expert from the Chicago area. He is the author of beloved children's picture books including, Dear Star Baby, Sydney's Big Speech, I Am The Spirit of Justice (co-author), and The Daddy-Daughter Dance. When not writing you’ll find him spending time outside in his mini-orchard, baking bread, or being a lumberjack.

  • JUVENILE FICTION, LGBTQ+, PERFORMING ARTS

    Eureka O’Hara started out as a small country child in the heart of East Tennessee. She is known for competing on RuPaul’s Drag Race and as the co-host of We’re Here on HBO.

  • MIDDLE GRADE HORROR

    Cassandra Ramos-Gomez is a Mexican American writer focused on creating middle grade and young adult fiction that centers Latinx experiences. She also enjoys writing horror stories that are infused with humor and heart. Cassandra lives in Texas and her hobbies include painting, collecting animal bones, and playing Minecraft with her kids. Lost on Doll Island is her middle grade debut.

  • HORROR, SPECULATIVE FICTION

    Sam Rebelein lives in Poughkeepsie, NY. His fiction has appeared in PseudoPod, The Deadlands, Press Pause Press, Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year, and elsewhere. His books explore the fictional landscape of Renfield County, New York. The most recent novel in this world is Galloway’s Gospel. For more about Sam, and pictures of his scruffy pooch Frodo, follow him on Instagram @rebelsam94.

  • YA COMING OF AGE & ADULT ROMANCE

    Born and raised in Arizona, Sonora Reyes is the award-winning and bestselling author of The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School, The Luis Ortega Survival Club, The Broposal, and The Golden Boy's Guide to Bipolar. They also have contributed short stories to the anthologies Transmogrify! and For the Rest of Us.

  • FICTION

    Alyssa Reynoso-Morris is a queer Afro-Latine and Indigenous (Taino) award-winning author, speaker, mother, and community organizer with Dominican and Puerto Rican roots. She crafts heartfelt stories entitled Plátanos Are Love (English & Spanish); The Bronx Is My Home; Gloriana Presente (English & Spanish); and Bold, Brilliant and Latine. You can learn more about her at alyssaauthor.com

  • MIDDLE GRADE HORROR

    Ally is the author of It Came from the Trees, Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave, Down Came the Spiders, and Wednesday: Book of Outcasts. She grew up on a steady diet of Halloween parties, horror films, Unsolved Mysteries, and Goosebumps books. She hails from Pittsburgh—ground zero for the zombie apocalypse. She’s afraid of the woods, the dark, and heights.

  • FICTION, MYSTERY/THRILLER

    Brandy Schillace is a historian and mystery novelist. The Framed Women of Ardemore House won the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award; its stand-alone sequel The Dead Come to Stay released in 2025. Brandy hosts Unsolved Mysteries of Medicine and has appeared on The Unbelievable with Dan Akroyd, Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny, and History's Greatest Mysteries with Lawrence Fishburn.

  • HORROR

    Leila Siddiqui is a Chicago-born Texan who calls New York home. She is currently works in publishing in the marketing department. Leila spent a childhood fascinated by history and horror, and how intricately both can be entwined, and now wants to write the kind of fantastical and strange fiction that sheds light on pieces of history the rest of the world tends to forget.

  • PICTURE BOOK, POETRY

    Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie, PhD is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, and scholar. Tallie is author of We Go Slow (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) which was named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection and chosen as a NYPL Best Book of 2025. Her first children's book Layla’s Happiness (Enchanted Lion Books) won an Ezra Jack Keats Honor for writing.

  • HORROR

    Vincent Tirado is a nonbinary Dominican born and raised in the Bronx. Their first novel, Burn Down, Rise Up (2022) was recognized with the Pura Belpré Award, and is a Bram Stoker and Lambda Literary award finalist. Since then, they’ve written We Don’t Swim Here (2023), and We Came to Welcome You (2024).

  • HORROR

    Tlotlo Tsamaase is a Motswana author of House of Margins and The Silence of Wilting Skin. Her novel, Womb City, is a Nommo-Award winner, an Ignyte and Locus Award finalist. Her novel, The Bloodwinds, is forthcoming from Knopf. A Caine Prize finalist, she received support from the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. She is a PhD student in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

  • PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE/THRILLER

    Marisa Walz is a Federal Reserve executive who also writes novels about people behaving badly. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and two young children.

  • THRILLER/LITERARY

    Canwen Xu is a writer living in New York City. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Chalkbeat Magazine, Kansas City Star, and more. Her TEDx talk, titled “I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype,” has been watched over 3 million times. She graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and computer science.

  • PICTURE BOOK, MIDDLE GRADE

    Kat Zhang started writing at age 12 and hasn’t let up since. In high school, she wrote What’s Left of Me, which expanded into her YA series, The Hybrid Chronicles. She then pub'd four MG novels: The Emperor’s Riddle, The Memory of Forgotten Things, and the Magic Paintbrush duology. Her Amy Wu PB series has been featured by the NYTimes, Parents magazine, and the 2021 Read for the Record Campaign.