Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

Ibi Zoboi holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her novel American Street was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of Pride and My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, a New York Times bestseller. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her husband and their three children. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.

Leah Henderson is the author of the middle grade novels One Shadow on the Wall, a Bank Street Best Book and a Children's Africana Book Award Notable, and The Magic in Changing Your Stars, as well as several picture books. Her work also appears in the anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America. Leah is on faculty in the Spalding University MFA program, and currently calls Washington, D.C., home.

Jay Coles is a graduate of Vincennes University and Ball State University. When he's not writing diverse books, he's advocating for them, teaching middle school students, and composing for various music publishers.

Renee Watson is the author of This Side of Home, which was nominated for the Best Fiction for Young Adults by the American Library Association. Her picture book Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills received several honors including an NAACP Image Award nomination in children's literature. She is also the founder of the I, Too Arts Collective and currently teaches courses on writing for children at University of New Haven and Pine Manor College.

Liara Tamani holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Duke University. She is the author of the acclaimed young adult novels Calling My Name, a 2018 PEN America Literary Award Finalist and SCBWI Golden Kite Finalist; All the Things We Never Knew, a 2020 Kirkus Best YA Book of the Year; and What She Missed. Before becoming a writer, she attended Harvard Law School and worked as a marketing coordinator for the Houston Rockets and Comets, production assistant for Girlfriends (TV show), home accessories designer, floral designer, and yoga and dance teacher. She lives in Houston, Texas. liaratamani.com

Coe Booth is a graduate of The New School's Writing for Children MFA program, and a winner of the LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction. She is the author of Tyrell and Kendra, and was born and still lives in the Bronx.

Tracey Baptiste lived in Trinidad until she was fifteen; she grew up on jumbie stories and fairy tales. She is a New York Times bestselling author of Minecraft: The Crash, and a former teacher who works as a writer and editor. Visit her online at traceybaptiste.com and on Twitter: @TraceyBaptiste.

Jason Reynolds is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ghost and Long Way Down, and the coauthor, with Ibram X. Kendi, of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. He is a Newbery Award honoree and a two-time National Book Award finalist. Reynolds lives in Washington, DC.

Rita Williams-Garcia is the author of the Newbery Honor-winning novel One Crazy Summer, which was also a winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, a National Book Award finalist, and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. She is also the author of six distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here; Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book); Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); Blue Tights; and Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. She is on the faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children an Young Adults program.

Nic Stone is an Atlanta native and a Spelman College graduate. After working extensively in teen mentoring and living in Israel for several years, she returned to the United States to write full-time. Her debut novel for young adults, Dear Martin, was a New York Times bestseller and a William C. Morris Award finalist. Odd One Out was an NPR Best Book of the Year and a Rainbow Book List Top Ten selection.

Justina Ireland is the New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation and its sequel, Deathless Divide, as well as Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows. She is also one of the authors creating the next generation of Star Wars novels entitled the High Republic and is the author of the middle grade Star Wars adventures Lando's Luck, Spark the Resistance, and A Test of Courage. She lives with her family in Maryland, where she enjoys dark chocolate and dark humor and is not too proud to admit that she's still afraid of the dark. You can visit her online at www.justinaireland.com.

Brandy Colbert is the award-winning author of several books for children and teens, including Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which was the winner of the 2022 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for the American Library Association's Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award. Her other acclaimed books include Pointe, The Voting Booth, The Only Black Girls in Town, and the Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion. A member of the faculty at Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children, Brandy lives in Los Angeles. You can find her online at www.brandycolbert.com.

Dhonielle Clayton writes fiction for middle grade, young adult, and women and was named a Best Author of YA Fiction by BookRiot in 2019. She earned an MA degree in children's literature from Hollins University and an MFA in writing for children at the New School. She taught secondary school for several years and is a former librarian and cofounder of Cake Literary, a creative kitchen whipping up decadent and diverse literary confections for readers.

Lamar "L. R." Giles never met a genre he didn't like, having penned science fiction, fantasy, horror, and noir thrillers, among others. He is a Virginia native, a Hopewell High Blue Devil, and an Old Dominion University Monarch. He resides in Chesapeake, Virginia, with his wife.

Varian Johnson est auteur de plus de dix romans, dont The Great Greene Heist, l'un des meilleurs romans de 2014 selon Kirkus Reviews, Saving Maddie et le troisième tome de la série Animal totem: Les bêtes suprêmes. Il habite avec sa femme et ses enfants dans les environs d'Austin, au Texas.

Ron Butler is a Los Angeles-based actor, Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator, and voice artist with over a hundred film and television credits. Most kids will recognize him from the three seasons he spent on Nickelodeon's True Jackson, VP. He works regularly as a commercial and animation voice-over artist and has voiced a wide variety of audiobooks. He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company and an Independent Filmmaker Project Award winner for his work in the HBO film Everyday People.

Bahni Turpin has guest starred in many television series, including NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Six Feet Under, and Cold Case. Her film credits include Brokedown Palace and Crossroads. She has won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and three prestigious Audie Awards.