2025 Middle-Grades and Young Adult Authors
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Lindsay K. Bandy writes historical and contemporary young adult fiction as well as poetry. She lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with her husband, two daughters, and two cats, and a growing collection of houseplants.
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Jess Callans is a queer children’s author and wanna-be-illustrator with an MFA from Rosemont College. He lives outside of Philly with his partner and four amazing kids, where they collectively bake, garden, and tirelessly pursue the human experience.
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Ellen Oh is an award-winning author and editor of numerous middle grade and young adult novels including On The Block: Stories of Home, The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee, You Are Here: Connecting Flights, Finding Junie Kim, and the Spirit Hunters trilogy. A former adjunct college instructor and lawyer, Ellen is also a founding member of We Need Diverse Books, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing diversity in children's literature. Originally from New York City, Ellen lives in Rockville, Maryland, with her husband, three human children, and two dog children and has yet to satisfy her quest for a decent bagel.
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Talia Tucker (she/her) is a young adult author who has spent her life investigating how identities shift and change between geographies, time, and cultures. Her Jamaican and Korean heritages inspire her to build worlds highlighting multiracial, queer, and neurodivergent characters of color within narratives that emphasize joy, something not typically centered in marginalized stories. She enjoys writing about messy women, soft boys, family, food, and trying to navigate the world as a child of multiple cultures.
Twitter and Instagram: @taliatuck
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Shveta Thakrar is a part-time nagini and full-time believer in magic. Her work has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including ENCHANTED LIVING, UNCANNY MAGAZINE, A THOUSAND BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS, and TOIL & TROUBLE. Her debut young adult fantasy novel, STAR DAUGHTER, was a finalist for the 2021 Andre Norton Nebula Award, and her second and third novels, THE DREAM RUNNERS and DIVINING THE LEAVES, take place in the same universe. Her adult fantasy novella, INTO THE MOON GARDEN, is available as an original audiobook from Audible. When not spinning stories about spider silk and shadows, magic and marauders, and courageous girls illuminated by dancing rainbow flames, Shveta crafts, devours books, daydreams, travels, bakes, and occasionally even plays her harp.
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Until Hollywood or Netflix calls, Charlotte lives in NJ with her family, cat, and a new squirrel family. Her latest release is The Excalibur Vow, a YA Arthurian time-travel fantasy. She is the author of the award-winning Evolution Revolution trilogy: Simple Machines, Simple Plans, and Simple Lessons. She is the co-author of Blonde Ops, the Sirenz series: Sirenz, Sirenz Back In Fashion, and several anthologies. She’s written for magazines and newspapers, and has given writing presentations and workshops at NJ SCBWI conferences, schools, libraries, and other venues. Currently she’s working on a number of sci fi, historical, horror, paranormal, fantasy, and romance novels.
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SOPHIA EZOMOGHENE is a first-generation Nigerian American author and former pre-kindergarten teacher. Sophia enjoys writing stories about first day jitters, adventure seekers, and magical worlds. When she isn't writing, you can find Sophia in a pottery class or out and about exploring art museums in her city, Philadelphia, PA.
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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 novel MY OWN KIND OF BRAVE (REYCRAFT) WILL BE OUT IN 2026.
Darlene lives and writes her stories in New Jersey. When she’s not writing, she enjoys travel, baking and eating pies, dancing to the oldies in the supermarket, and discovering new things. She’s a firm believer in wishes coming true, prayers being answered, and miracles when we choose to notice.
Her blog features recipes, activities, crafts, articles on nature, book reviews, and interviews with children’s book authors and illustrators.
X: @DBeckJacobson
Bluesky: dbeckjacobson.bsky.social
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Linda Oatman High has written more than 28 books for children and teens, and she is also a working journalist/playwright. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College, and she teaches both nationally and internationally. Linda's books have won many awards and honors.
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Hilda Eunice Burgos is an award-winning author of books for children, including the Bodega Cats series, the middle grade novels Ana María Reyes Does Not Live in a Castle and Miosotis Flores Never Forgets, and the picture book The Cot in the Living Room, which is also available in Spanish as La camita de la sala. The first time Hilda read a book—back when she was in elementary school in Washington Heights, New York City—she knew she wanted to write stories about Dominican-American city kids like her. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School, Hilda has two grown children and lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and their adorable dog, Bear.
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Cordelia Jensen has an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published four verse novels: Skyscraping, The Way the Light Bends, Lilac and the Switchback and Every Shiny Thing, co-authored with Laurie Morrison. Her books have received starred reviews, state award list nominations, and NCTE Notable Verse Novel recognition. A certified book coach, Cordelia has taught creative writing in a variety of settings, including Bryn Mawr College, Germantown Friends School, The Writing Barn and The Kelly Yang Project, and currently teaches verse novel classes for The Highlights Foundation.
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Lauren is the internationally bestselling author of The Incorruptibles, the Case Closed series, The Mythics series, and three other stand-alone books for middle grade readers. Lauren grew up in New Hope, Pennsylvania. After receiving a B.A. in Creative Writing and Philosophy at Hamilton College, Lauren Magaziner worked on two Scholastic magazines, where many of her coworkers didn’t believe her last name was real. She currently lives in Philadelphia, where she writes full time.
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Laura Parnum is the author of the middle grade novels Peril at Price Manor and The Haunting of Bellington Cottage. She writes stories that blend humor and heart with a touch of horror. When she’s not writing, she’s editing other people’s stories and helping out at local elementary school libraries. She currently serves as Co-Regional Advisor for the Eastern Pennsylvania region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Laura lives with her family in Philadelphia. They have a turtle that bites and a snake that doesn’t.
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Eric Smith is a literary agent and Young Adult author from Elizabeth, New Jersey.
As an agent, 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. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and son, and enjoys video games, pop punk, and crying over every movie.