Walter Dean Myers was the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award; a National Ambassador for Young People's Literature; and an inaugural NYC Literary Honoree. Myers was recognized by every single major award in the field of children's literature. He was the author of two Newbery Honor Books and six Coretta Scott King Book Award winners. He was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults and a three-time National Book Award finalist as well as the first ever recipient of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Dawud Anyabwile is an Emmy Award–winning artist and the cocreator and illustrator of the groundbreaking comics series Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline, which is cocreated and written by his brother, Guy A. Sims. Dawud has also worked as a character designer on television productions such as The Wild Thornberrys and Rugrats as well as served as a production artist on a variety of music videos, commercials, and game animations.

Guy A. Sims is a poet and fiction writer as well as the cocreator of Brotherman Comics. He is the author of Living Just a Little: A Novel; The Cold Hard Cases of Duke Denim; The Kwanzaa Handbook; and The Kwanzaa Kids Learn the Seven Principles.