A.D. Sui (she/her) is a Ukrainian-born, queer, disabled SFF writer, and the author of THE DRAGONFLY GAMBIT. She is a Theodore A. Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist, and her Pushcart-nominated writing has appeared in Fusion Fragment, Augur, HavenSpec, and many others. She is a failed academic, retired fencer, and coffee enthusiast.

A L Davis writes fantasy novels that seek to explore everything in real life that both irritate and fascinate her. A neurodiverse Pisces with a penchant for trying to tackle big issues with a touch of humor, you’ll often find her writing long blogs with silly memes (definitely not instead of her latest book). When not so occupied, she can probably be found yelling about HIPAA at her day job in healthtech while her menagerie of four cats, two dogs, and a human partner roll their eyes.

Anselma Widha Prihandita (she/her) writes speculative fiction that peers into the dark corners of the human heart, both to trace the threads that shape oppression and to find a ray of hope amidst it. When she isn’t worldbuilding, she teaches college writing and works on her PhD dissertation on decolonial and transnational composition. She splits her time between the US West Coast, where she currently teaches and studies, and Indonesia, where she grew up and where her home remains. She attended the Odyssey workshop in 2023 on their Fresh Voices Scholarship, and the Clarion workshop in 2024 on their Octavia Butler Scholarship. Her stories are published or forthcoming in Cast of Wonders, khōréō, Haven Speculative, Ghoulish Tales, Mysterion, and Fusion Fragment.

Al Graziadei was born in Buffalo, New York and raised on Sabres hockey and video games, using their free time to write books inspired by both. Nonbinary and now living in Wisconsin, Al still plays plenty of video games and is a proud member of the Displaced Buffalo Sabres Fans group. Now that they've set aside their stick and mitts, they're making goals with their keyboard.

Alaina Wood is an award-winning climate communicator and climate optimist. She is the founder of the climate education and activism platform known as the Garbage Queen. Alaina is most well known for her Good Climate News series and climate doomism debunk videos as well as her research on how social media influences eco-anxiety rates in young people.

Alison Pearce Stevens has an M.S. in zoology and Ph.D. in ecology, evolution, and behavior and has worked with children of all ages through scientific outreach programs for much of her life. She has been writing about science for children since 2010, publishing more than 120 articles on science topics for Science News for Students, Highlights for Children, and ASK magazine, among others.

Amy Avery (who also writes self-published work under the pen name Avery Ames) is a graphic designer living in Kansas. She writes novels that toe the line between glittery and dark, for lovers of fairy tales, romance, and everything gothic. When not writing, she can be found playing video games, tending a small herb garden, crafting cocktails, or feeding her nail polish addiction.

Anas Abdulhak is a writer and poet from Damascus, Syria. They broke onto the indie comic book scene with their self published works Eleutheromania, Kill My Boyfriend, and Objects in the Mirror. They also released Etheres through Source Point Press. They enjoy writing character-driven stories that explore trauma and the human condition through a mix of prose and poetry.

Anna Kopp is a children’s author who lives in Ohio with her husband, two boys, and two cats. Anna loves creating fantastical stories for children of all ages, from picture books to young adult novels. When she’s not writing she’s playing video games or reading the latest books about lost princesses.

Ashleigh loves to write science fiction with queer romance, lots of laughs, and a dash of horror. Their short fiction has been published in Clarkesworld and in Monstrous Futures: A Sci-fi Horror Anthology. When not playing a Resident Evil game for the hundredth time, they work as a biomedical engineer in Tkaronto/Toronto.

Auden Patrick is a queer speculative fiction writer and future ghost who most frequently writes about fear, love, and monsters. His work has appeared in Apparition Lit, Beaver Magazine, among others, and he attended Cat Rambo's inaugural Wayward Wormhole Workshop in 2023. When he is not writing, he can be found knitting, obsessing over planner supplies, or haunting the local library.

Bastian Hart is a Michigan-based weird fiction author who grew up in a city named after a shopping mall. As such, their work often blends the abject and uncanny with a tv-colored nostalgia. Despite their day job as a librarian keeping them somewhat respectable, they can still be found lurking Michigan’s wetlands and writing love letters to the old gods. On this plane, however, their words have appeared in Baffling Magazine and Luminescent Machinations: Queer Tales of Monumental Invention, both published by Neon Hemlock Press.

Brittney is a passionate storyteller, crafting emotional and immersive fantasy for both YA and adult readers. With a background in digital design and marketing, she has always found solace in art. However, after a challenging health journey, she turned to writing, and what began as a coping mechanism evolved into a journey of exploration, allowing her to traverse new worlds from the comfort of her home. Now, eagerly anticipating the release of her duology from Del Rey and Bloomsbury in 2025, Brittney invites readers into realms of magic and resilience.

Cassandra Jeanne Farrin is the Director of Erewhon Books and a US-UK Fulbright scholar with an MA in Religious Studies from Lancaster University in England, where she studied interfaith dialogue and intercultural communication. Her fiction was shortlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award once upon a time, and her poetry can be found in places like Frontier Poetry, Cirque, and concīs. She lives in Idaho with her identical twin sister and their three adoptive children.

Celia started telling herself stories at the age of six. They were about unicorns, and she made up an imaginary friend so her parents wouldn’t think she was crazy talking to herself all the time. Thus was born a love of storytelling, and the lifelong dream of becoming an author.  Celia has a BA in History from Yale University, where she tutored at the Yale College Writing Center. She currently works in HR analytics, and in her spare time is a developmental editor for a fanfiction anthology and a cast member of a tabletop roleplay podcast. Her usually Jewish, frequently queer short fiction has been published in multiple magazines and anthologies.

Charlie James is a comedian, writer and TikToker with over 400K followers. They earned their BA degree in comedy writing and performance from Columbia College Chicago. Charlie is an alumni of the Second City’s Severn Darden Program, as well as The io and The Annoyance Theaters’ programs. Currently, Charlie Tweets science jokes for Chicago’s Field Museum and is an editor for Funny or Die.

Chelsea Abdullah is an American-Kuwaiti writer born and raised in Kuwait, where she grew up listening to stories about mysterious desert creatures and wily (only sometimes likable) heroes. Consumed by wanderlust, she has put down roots in various states. After earning her MA in English at Duquesne University, she moved to New York, where she currently lives. When not immersed in her own fictional worlds, she spends her free time playing video games, doodling characters, and hoarding books she doesn't have the shelf space for.

Cheyanne Monkman is a Cree (Peguis FN), Red River Métis and Ukrainian speculative fiction author who loves anything dark, emotional, and magic-filled. If there’s a liminal space to be explored they’re gearing up for adventure. When they’re not writing, they work as an archaeologist—spending their days trekking through the forest, digging holes and squinting at really old things.

Clare Edge (they/she) is an author (and witch) who was raised in the Rocky Mountains. Their cozy middle grade fantasy series Accidental Demons (HarperCollins) follows the misadventures of a young diabetic witch who can’t stop conjuring demons when she tests her blood sugar. They hold masters degrees from the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (MA) & the University of Montana (MFA). Their graduate research explored how we make and translate meaning through story. 

D. Zollicoffer is a Canton, Ohio-based speculative fiction author. His obsession with "weird" stories can be attributed to his mother, who passed down her love for The Twilight Zone to him at a young age. Now—over two decades later—he blends the speculative influences of his youth with humor and modern sensibilities to craft imaginative stories about Black kids and young adults. He's a former gaming journalist and has self-published over thirty books (under a retired pen name). When he isn't writing, he enjoys reading, nature, and discovering new music.

Darianne is a young adult and middle grade author currently living in a small coastal town in Florida, where she is lucky enough to enjoy long walks on the beach nearly every weekend. When she’s not writing stories about grief, love, and towns that are just a little bit strange, you can find her eating the darkest possible chocolate or playing overly aggressive games of Scrabble. Unless it’s Friday night, in which case she’ll be at the dinner table with her large extended family enjoying fresh challah while half-heartedly telling her daughter and nieces to stop throwing bread at each other.

Héloïse Stevance studied Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield. After working as a support astronomer at the Isaac Newton Group in La Palma, she obtained her Masters of Physics. She subsequently started a PhD studying the 3D shape of Core Collapse Supernovae, and earned her title in Spring 2019. She joined the University of Auckland as a Research Fellow to research the evolution of massive stars to better understand how they die and produce Supernovae and Kilonovae. In 2023, she received a Schmidt A.I. in Science Fellowship from the University of Oxford where she is currently developing A.I. models for international sky surveys that can detect thousands of supernovae and other stellar explosions every year.

E.M. Anderson (she/they) is a queer, neurodivergent writer and the author of The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher. Her work has appeared in SJ Whitby’s Awakenings: A Cute Mutants Anthology, Wyldblood Press's From the Depths: A Fantasy Anthology, and Dark Horses: The Magazine of Weird Fiction. They have two master’s degrees and a feral passion for trees, birds, pole fitness, and Uncle Iroh. You can find them on Instagram, BlueSky, Facebook, and Tumblr at @elizmanderson

Elliot Wake is a transgender author of books that blur the lines between genres. He writes pretty words about gritty themes. Aside from reading his brains out, Elliot enjoys being bad at video games, lifting weights without gaining muscle, seeing live music with earplugs, and ordering overpriced cocktails with his life partner. He lives in Chicagoland with his dog, Huxley.

Emily Riesbeck writes stories about the gravity of our bodies, and the orbits that they fall into. Their work includes It’s Your Funeral (Iron Circus Comics, 2020), Mountain (Cow House Press, 2022), and The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl (S&S, 2023). They live in Chicago with their two partners and cat, Yuri. When not writing, Emily enjoys doing silly voices in tabletop roleplaying games and sometimes daydreams of being an actor.

Emily Rosenthal is an illustrator and writer based in Baltimore, Maryland. Originally from New York, she graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2019 with a BFA in Illustration and Humanistic Studies. Since, she has created picture books and comics, taught art classes for kids, worked at a non-profit, and read a whole lot of books. She loves mixing the magical with the mundane. Her goal is to ground even the most outlandish idea in heart. Monsters, Jewish folklore, disability justice, and metaphors are just some of the places she finds inspiration.

Eric Smith is a literary agent and YA author from Elizabeth, New Jersey. As an agent with P.S. Literary, he's worked on New York Times bestselling and award-winning books. 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.

After cutting their teeth on a steady diet of fan fiction in the Southwest of England, Esme Symes-Smith wandered north to Wales for their degree in literature and creative writing, then promptly migrated to Missouri after meeting their wife on Tumblr. Esme has been a ghostwriter, an editor, a frozen-yogurt seller, and a caffeine purveyor. They now wrangle preschoolers for a living and have a severe tea problem.

Gabrielle K. Byrne lives in the tangled wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where she writes fantasy for kids of all ages. Gabby loves rain, marine biology, Thai food, and naming pets (even ones she doesn’t own). When she’s not writing, she can be found fishing spineless beasties out of the Salish Sea. She is the author of Rise of the Dragon Moon and The Edge of Strange Hollow.

George Jreije (jer-age) is the Lebanese American author of many books including the acclaimed Shad Hadid children’s fantasy series, the upcoming Bashir Boutros fantasy series, and the upcoming graphic novels, Tarik's Bazaar Adventure and Lilo and the League of Librarians. He also writes short stories in collaboration with organizations like UNICEF and anywhere else he can spread his love of Arab culture. Additionally, George teaches Creative Writing with Gotham Writers Workshop and was the inaugural author-in-residence for the Concord Library in Massachusetts. He has been a guest of honor as well as the featured speaker for WriteHive, WorldCon, SCBWI and more. When not writing or teaching, he enjoys scouring the world for delicious food and visiting schools to spread his love of books!

Gina is an author raised in northwest New Jersey. Her stories discuss mental health and disability, and she wraps it into a fantastical (and sometimes horrifying) world. By day, Gina works in higher education, focusing on improving the health literacy of the campus community. When she’s not creating fictional worlds, she loves watching Broadway shows, playing board games, and purchasing too many candles.

Grace Reilly writes swoony, spicy contemporary romance with heart–and usually a healthy dose of sports. When she’s not dreaming up stories, she can be found in the kitchen trying out a new recipe, cuddling her pack of dogs, or watching sports. Originally from New York, she now lives in Florida, which is troubling given her fear of alligators. She is the author of the Beyond the Play series.

Gwendolyn Clare writes science fiction and fantasy. Her short stories have appeared in Clarkesworld, Asimov's, Analog, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among others, and her poetry has been nominated for the Rhysling Award. She holds a BA in Ecology, a BS in Geophysics, a PhD in Mycology, and swears she's done collecting acronyms. She lives in central Pennsylvania with too many cats and never enough books.

Hannah is a biotech founder by day and YA and adult sci-fi/fantasy writer by night. She was born in Jiangxi, China, grew up in central Pennsylvania, and currently resides in the Bay Area. As a queer, adopted, Asian American woman, she proudly represents all of her intersectional identities.

Hannah K. Zhang is a college student studying classics and creative writing. She writes mostly YA fantasy in the realm of novels, and dabbles in short fiction and poetry. She hopes to help expand literary and cozy fantasy into the YA sphere.

Harry Szabo grew up on a small family farm, surrounded by a ragtag family of humans and animals. After a brief stint in a coffee shop, they earned both their MA and MFA in creative writing, and their short fiction has been published in See the Elephant, Quaint, and Hello Horror. Rose now lives in Richmond, VA where they've started collecting people and cats of their own, and spends their days teaching writing at VCU.

Heidi Lang managed to stumble upon the two best jobs in the world: writing for kids and walking dogs. If she's not out on the trails surrounded by wagging tails and puppy kisses, she's probably hunched over her laptop working on her next book.

Hemant Nayak is a fantasy writer and ER doc living in the Pacific NW in his free time he plays with his dogs a lot, occasionally plays in the famous rock band ROCKURONIUM, and even plays D&D with a bunch of fellow goofballs. According to one of his Amazon reviews, he is “glacially cool and debonair” but his wife might disagree!

Jared Pechaček is an artist and writer based in Seattle, Washington. He is also a host of the Tolkien podcast By-The-Bywater. When he's not doing any of that, he's cooking, baking, or sewing something to wear to the opera.

Jesmeen Kaur Deo is an Indo-Canadian writer and student from northern British Columbia. She loves books that can make her laugh and tug at her heartstrings in the same paragraph. When not wrapped up in stories, she can be found biking, voicing ads at her university radio station, or struggling to open jars.

Jess H. Gutierrez is a speaker and former journalist whose work has been published in Northwest Arkansas Times, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Siloam Springs Herald Leader, and the Fayetteville Free Weekly. She has earned several awards from the Arkansas Press Association. She also won the fifth-grade spelling bee despite the fact that everyone thought that Crissy Eaton would take the title. She lives in Northwest Arkansas with her firefighter wife who is way cooler than she is, their three wild kids, a surly bulldog named Hank, a cattle-herding yorkie poo named Bella, and six chickens who refuse to lay eggs.

As a lawyer and daughter of Guatemalan and Cuban bakers, Jessica Parra never objects to an extra slice of cake. She's a Los Angeles native who loves to write about Latinas with big hair (and even bigger dreams), complicated families, cats living their best lives (all nine of them), and the healing magic of acceptance. When she isn't drafting books you can find her sipping kombucha, cuddling with her kitties, or co-piloting the Millennium Falcon at Disneyland's Galaxy's Edge.

Jessie writes award-winning books about brave kids exploring fantasy worlds, girls who love science, boys with hidden talents, and friendships among kids of all backgrounds. Proud to be biracial, she's equally at home chowing down on dan tat or apple pie. She aims to celebrate the unique and diverse experiences of being biracial through writing and cooking. When she’s not writing, Jessie is a dietitian who raises three kids and tackles her mission of tasting every chocolate in the world.

Jill Tew grew up watching Farscape, Hercules, and Xena with her dad every week, and always had the latest copy of Animorphs tucked in her backpack. Now she writes the kinds of stories she loved as a kid, with characters she wanted to see more of— Black heroines asking big questions, saving the world, and occasionally falling in love along the way. Jill enjoys belting showtunes on the way to Target and baking in her spare time. She is also a co-host of Afronauts Podcast, which provides writing tips and community for Black aspiring speculative fiction writers. Jill lives in Atlanta with her husband, children, and a needy Dalmatian named Gus.

Jonny Garza Villa (they/them) is an author of contemporary young adult literature with characters and settings inspired by their own Tejane, Chicane, and queer identities. Whatever the storyline, Jonny ultimately hopes Latines, and, more specifically, queer Mexican American young people will feel seen in their writing. Their debut YA novel Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun was a Pura Belpré Honor Book and a Kirkus Best YA Fiction of 2021 selection, and their YA novel Ander & Santi Were Here was chosen as a Barnes & Noble YA Book Club pick and is an AudioFile Earphone Award Winner. When not writing, Jonny enjoys reading, playing Dungeons and Dragons, visiting taquerías, listening to Selena, and caring for their many plant children. They live in San Antonio.

Growing up in an immigrant Argentinian household, Juli found a passion for reading and writing at a very young age. Now a neuropsychology undergraduate student pursuing a diploma in creative writing, she enjoys using fantastical elements in order to analyze, explore, and critique her past experiences and the world around her. As such, most of her work carries a strong political undertone. She was also raised in a half-Jewish, half-Catholic household and identifies as bisexual, neurodivergent, and disabled.

K. M. Enright is the Sunday Times’ Bestselling author of MISTRESS OF LIES. Find out more about his writing at kmenright.com or follow him on social media at @KM_Enright.

Kate McMillan is an artist and woodworker from Houston, Texas. She graduated from Yale in 2016 with a degree in architecture and currently works as a concept artist for animation, where she gets to make up worlds that don't exist for a living. She loves creating stories that explore themes about mental health.

Kati Bartkowski was originally drawn to illustration before she got swept up in the world of words. Nowadays she's a fan of creating fantastical creatures and feisty heroines in both mediums. If she's not reading, writing, or drawing, she's probably chasing after her high energy little girl.

Katie lives in historical Massachusetts with her four cats. She primarily writes historical Young Adult books, leaning into fantasy and adventure more than anything else. Her dream is for her books to be a safe place for teens and young adults to find representation and to experience trauma, hardship, romance, and adventure through her characters without ever putting themselves at risk. Katie has been vocal on social media about her experience with infertility, and was even invited by NBC to write a personal essay for the Today Show on the matter.

Katie Schenkel is a comic writer best known for the critically acclaimed graphic novel series The Cardboard Kingdom. Her other books includes The Wolf in Unicorn's Clothing, Basketball Camp Champ, My Slime is Alive!, and Alice, Secret Agent of Wonderland. She also writes for video games as a narrative game designer. Midwest to her core, Katie lives in Chicago with her partner Madison and their three pawed rescue dog named Moira.

KD Fisher is a New England-based writer of authentic, heartfelt LGBTQ+ romance. When KD isn't writing they can be found hiking with their overly-enthusiastic dog, obsessing over plants, or cooking elaborate meals. They love classic country, perfectly ripe tomatoes, and falling asleep in the sun.

Kelsea Yu is the Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of Bound Feet, It’s Only a Game, and Demon Song. She has over a dozen short stories and essays published or podcasted in magazines such as Clarkesworld, Apex, Nightmare, PseudoPod, and Fantasy, and in various anthologies. Find her on Instagram or Twitter as @anovelescape or visit her website kelseayu.com.

Keshav Kant is the Executive Director of Off Colour, an entertainment consultant, and a coauthor of "X Marks The Spot: An Anthology Of Nonbinary Experiences." Her critic and cultural commentator work has been featured on Off Colour, Metro UK, Paper Magazine and Buzzfeed. When she's not writing or working, you can usually find her on Twitter (RIP) or TikTok talking about race, gender, and how she once again broke her book-buying ban for another adult fantasy or sci-fi that caught her eye.

Kyle W. Kerr is a 2015 Pitch Wars finalist and has had a short story published in the inaugural issue of the Vine Leaves Literary Journal. He has studied under award-winning and bestselling authors like Gary Braver and Steve Berry. He currently lives and works in Boston.

L.D. Lewis (she/her) is an editor, publisher, and Shirley Jackson award-nominated writer of speculative fiction. She served as a founding creator and Project Manager for the World Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning FIYAH Literary Magazine. She also serves as the founding Director of (Hugo-nominated) FIYAHCON, Researcher for the (also award-winning) LeVar Burton Reads podcast, and pays the bills as the Director of Programs and Operations for Lambda Literary. She once chaired a Nebula Conference and Tech Directed a Nebula Award Ceremony and runs the Ignyte Awards. She frequently bothers the publishing industry by authoring studies about the treatment and experiences of racially/ethnically marginalized authors in speculative literature.

Laura High is a New York actor and comedian. She received her B.A. in Theatre Performance from Nazareth College. Laura has had lead roles on TV shows, and national commercials. Laura performs stand-up comedy at venues like Broadway Comedy Club, Bananas, and headlined Carolines on Broadway. Laura has been featured on the New York Comedy Festival and won the 'Broadly Funny' Divison at the 360 Stand Up Festival. Laura is a rising content creator. Laura has gone viral several times on TikTok and her following has grown exponentially in a short amount of time. Laura writes, produces, and edits all of her own work.

Lauren Gibaldi is a public librarian who's been, among other things, a magazine editor, high school English teacher, bookseller, and circus aerialist (seriously). She has a BA in Literature and Master's in Library and Information Studies. She lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband and daughters.

Lindsay Henry is a writer from St. Charles, Michigan. Her work has been published in numerous online publications, including HuffPost, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls at the Party, Mogul and Girls Leadership. By day, she works as a writer for a national developer, design-builder and real estate management company. By night, she writes about life & love & feelings & people: both real, and the ones she makes up in her mind. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with her husband and their trusted sidekick, Daisy the chocolate labrador retriever.

Lindsey Duga is a young adult and middle grade author with a passion for fantastical worlds and reluctant heroes. Inspired by all of her favorite series and fandoms, she wrote her first novel in college and went on to debut in YA fantasy with Entangled Teen. Her most recent YA is a contemporary drama titled ROYAL HEIRS ACADEMY (Jan 2025) with Christy Ottaviano Books / Little Brown Books for Young Readers, with an upcoming sequel in 2026. She also writes middle grade horror where her ghost stories are featured at Scholastic Clubs & Fairs. When she's not writing, she loves playing cozy games, reads romcoms obsessively, and kicks back with a new anime.

Lindz created their beloved LGBTQ+ family webseries Queer Kid Stuff in 2016 which now has 4M lifetime views and counting! They are the author of “Rainbow Parenting: Raising Queer Kids and Their Allies” and host of the Rainbow Parenting podcast. Their work has been featured by them.us, Forbes, Good Morning America, Kidscreen, NBCOut, Teen Vogue, Shondaland, New York Mag, and Parents Magazine among other publications. The Huffington Post calls Queer Kid Stuff a “groundbreaking YouTube educational resource.” Teen Vogue praised their episode on consent during the height of #MeToo that “shows exactly why there’s no excuse not to grasp consent. Even toddlers can understand it.”

Australian author Lynette Noni studied journalism, academic writing, and human behaviour at university before venturing into the world of fiction. She is the #1 bestselling author of The Prison Healer series, The Medoran Chronicles, and the Whisper duology. To date, she has won three ABIA awards and a Gold Inky Award, and her books are published in more than 20 countries across the globe.

Makana Yamamoto was born on the island of Maui. Splitting their time between the Mainland and Hawaiʻi, Makana grew up on beaches and in snowbanks. Always a scientist at heart, Makana fell in love with sci-fi as a teen–they even led the science fiction and fantasy interest house at their college. Fiction became the perfect medium for them to explore their interests as well as reconnect with their culture, coalescing into a passion for diverse sci-fi. They love writing multicultural settings and queer characters, as well as imagining what the future might look like for historically marginalized communities. In their free time, Makana likes to hoard dice for their Dungeons & Dragons games, experiment in the kitchen, defeat bosses with their guildmates, and get way too invested in reality competition shows.

Marie Denee founded The Curvy Fashionista in 2008 with the ambitious dream to bring plus size fashion and its champions to mainstream audiences. Marie’s goal was to bring plus size fashion to places where true inclusion of plus size people and representation of, was absent. Marie’s mission is to encourage plus sized women to unapologetically be who they are with confidence and style. This passion is echoed throughout our content; centering, celebrating, and exclusively featuring plus size people.

Marissa Macy is a queer fiction writer, filmmaker, and improviser based in Austin, Texas. Her time nannying and teaching writing summer camps has sparked a passion for making kids laugh and getting them "hooked on books." Her experiences as a queer kid in Texas schools has shaped the stories she tells: ones that show LGBTQ kids that they aren't alone. When she's not conjuring up imaginary worlds, Marissa loves being an "adult theater kid" in the Austin Improv Community, cooking overly-ambitious meals for friends, and sweating in the Texas heat.

Mars Sebastian is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, nerd, and lover of the cosmos. In addition to being an award-winning digital marketing and content professional,  Sebastian is a lifelong vocalist, performer,  and lover of books and storytelling. Previously published works include an essay entitled “My Body: A Crime” published in Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy, and Girls Can!: Smash Stereotypes, Defy Expectations, and Make History! published with National Geographic in 2020. She enjoys making art that feels both fun and terrifying, spending her days dreaming up books and TV shows that mix fantasy, sci-fi, and horror.

Mary G. Thompson is the author of The Word, Flicker and Mist, and other novels for children and young adults, as well as the forthcoming sci-fi novella A Small Universe. Her contemporary thriller Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee was a winner of the 2017 Westchester Fiction Award and a finalist for the 2018-2019 Missouri Gateway award. Her short fiction has appeared in Dark Matter Magazine, Apex Magazine, and others. Mary is originally from Eugene, Oregon, where she attended the University of Oregon School of Law. She practiced law for seven years, including five years in the US Navy JAGC, and now works as a law librarian. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children from The New School and completed the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television's Professional Program in Screenwriting.

Matt Acuña is a Burbank-based Writer for TV Animation, and has worked for Bento Box, Wild Canary, Disney Junior, and Frederator Studios. He’s very passionate about creating stories about small creatures going out on soul-searching journeys, and has used bugs, rats, and frogs to explore personal concepts such as going against the grain, bullying, and growing up mixed-race. Outside of his work he spends his time with his two loud, small cats, Mona and Magnolia, who are most likely all over him at this very moment.

Maya Kern is a fat, queer author and artist best known for her high fantasy romance novel Spitfire, her homegrown skirt empire, and her self-published comics, which include the webcomic Monster Pop! as well as several short form fairytale comics. Maya is a staunch lover of messy, heartfelt romances that are as heart-wrenching as they are spicy. She is a huge advocate for fat liberation and body positivity, which factor prominently into her writing, art, and clothing design.

Melissa Cristina Márquez is a fiercely proud Hispanic marine biologist, wildlife educator, professional speaker, and presenter. She has given two TEDx talks on sharks and female scientists, and her work has been highlighted in NPR, Allure, Disney+, BBC, National Geographic, Good Morning America, and more. In 2021, Melissa was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30: Science list and the InStyle "50 Badass Women" list. Melissa holds a BA in Marine Ecology and Conservation from New College of Florida and an MSc in Marine Biology from Victoria University. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Mexico, Melissa aims to bring attention to the importance of diversity and inclusion with her writing.

Ever since the household debut of Mike's nine-page sci-fi epic, "The Aliens That Invaded My Backyard!," Mike has been hopelessly lost to the literary sandbox. He had his first real sale at 19, and he's since published short fiction in over a dozen outlets. He is a freelance manuscript editor, and co-editor of Literary Landscapes, the official magazine of The Greater Los Angeles Writers Society.

Mona Tewari lives with her husband, two daughters, and dogs in the beautiful Berkshires of Massachusetts. After graduating from Caltech with degrees in biology and philosophy, she completed dental school and a master’s degree at UCSF. She has long been fascinated by the way that narratives create the lens through which we see our legends and histories and how these views shape our present. As the daughter of two immigrants from India, Mona didn’t see herself much in popular media while growing up, and she is determined to show her daughters that they belong in every world. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s probably baking (it helps to have three eager taste testers in the house), hiking, drinking too much tea or having an impromptu dance party with her family.

Nav Mangat is a writer and postsecondary educator. A second-gen South-Asian Canadian, she writes middle-grade fantasy to honor and reimagine the South-Asian folktales from her childhood. She holds a Master of Science from the University of British Columbia, and was a mentee of the 2023 BIPOC Writers Connect conference, hosted by the Writer’s Union of Canada. She lives in British Columbia, Canada, where you can most often find her wandering the local woodland trails or brewing yet another cup of tea. She may or may not be a witch.

Rae Loverde was born in Los Angeles, but has moved too many times to call any place home – Seattle makes a strong case, though. After bouncing around through 10 majors and minors, she graduated with a bachelor’s in public health, which only comes in handy when she needs to stab or poison a character – something she does far too often for her readers’ blood pressure. She loves writing twisty adult SFF books full of intrigue, immigrant kid trauma, swords, and love interests who can't decide whether to kiss or kill each other. Whenever she isn’t knee-deep in the slush as an agency assistant for Donald Maass Literary Agency, you can find her cheering at a volleyball match or cosplaying anime characters at comic cons.

Rebecca Rosenberg was raised in New Jersey on a healthy diet of television, movies, musicals and books, strongly encouraged by parents who prioritized pop culture over homework. Now she lives in Los Angeles and has turned her childhood media education into a career, working as a screenwriter. She has written on TV shows including Syfy's space drama THE ARK, CW fantasy series THE OUTPOST, and CW superhero flagship ARROW. She is currently working on the upcoming TNT series THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER.

Rebecca (she/her) is an actor, VO artist, writer and sensitivity reader, and an occasional translator. Regardless of the position she takes on, she makes a point of working on projects that prioritise marginalised voices. Her specialties lie in Asia/Asian diaspora, queerness, and mental illness.

She grew up mostly in Taipei, Taiwan, but was also raised in the U.S. and Australia before attending Wesleyan University, where she got her BA in theatre and Italian.

Riley Swan grew up in a dozen places across Australia, and has now settled on unceded Kaurna land with a Bachelor of Creative Industries in Writing & Publishing, leading them to pursue Postgraduate study in the same field. He loves writing about teenagers and young adults grappling with the familiar nuances of being autistic, nonbinary, and a lesbian while pursuing their dreams or killing their nightmares. When he's not studying or writing, Riley volunteers as a student advocate, plays video games for ten hours straight, and thinks about cats.

Roanne Lau is a speculative fiction author whose works are informed by her experiences living in Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, and Japan and being the descendant of Chinese immigrants. She was selected for the Pitch Wars mentorship program in 2021. Her debut epic fantasy novel The Serpent Called Mercy sold at auction for six figures to DAW (North America) and Solaris (UK/Commonwealth). Her greatest accomplishments in life include being a finalist in a Lord of the Rings trivia competition when she was nine and managing to avoid diabetes despite a sugar-saturated childhood.

Ronnie Riley (they/them) is a queer, nonbinary, neurodivergent, disabled author based in Ontario, Canada. They love tea, chocolate, and a cat (or six) nearby while they write or read. Ronnie writes books they wish they had as a kid, featuring queer characters, friendships, and hope.

Rose Viña is a Cuban American writer from California. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing for Young People from Lesley University, Cambridge. Her debut book, Ice Breaker: How Mabel Fairbanks Changed Figure Skating, was named an American Library Association 2021 Rise Honor book and a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators 2020 Crystal Kite Award finalist.

Roslyn Talusan is a Filipino-Canadian culture writer and anti-rape activist. She’s passionate about media critique and speaking truth to power to foster a culture of empathy for sexual violence survivors. Her work is featured at The A.V. Club, Bitch Magazine, Refinery29, VICE, and more.

Rowyn Ramsky is an aunt, a coffee enthusiast, and a lover of high fantasy and queer protagonists. She has an undying fascination with paranormal topics and an absolute adoration for all ghostly things. She began her writing endeavors on Wattpad where she built a small cult following of loyal readers and friends and has continued to hone her skills with a series of completed Young Adult manuscripts which have gathered over two-million accumulated reads and several awards. In February 2019, she graduated from the 2018 Pitch Wars class with her YA book What Happened to 143.

Rukman Ragas is a Tamil writer from Sri Lanka. They write irreverent SFFH novels that stand in the intersection of historical inspiration, court intrigue and a lots of queer drama. Their short stories, which explore themes of queerness, grief, storytelling, and immigration under a postcolonial lens can be found in Tasavvur, Khoreo, The Baltimore Review and more.

Rushie Ellenwood (she/they) has worked in copywriting and assisting an A-list screenwriter, but nothing has brought them more joy than writing for kids—particularly those who feel unseen. As an openly gay/genderqueer writer, Rushie prides herself on being a fierce advocate for LGBTQIA+ kids and teens. They can often be found volunteering at Pride Club and trying to make somebody laugh, which is still their best survival secret. She lives in rainy Oregon with her wife and two little bears.

Ruthie Prillaman is a writer and musician who hails from Potomac, Maryland. She graduated from Yale in 2016 with a degree in English and from USC in 2019 with an MFA in screenwriting. She currently works as a television writer, where she gets to imagine daring exploits from the comfort of her own home. She especially loves writing about queer and gender- nonconforming characters.

Safa Ahmed is a British-Pakistani content marketer and author of THE GIRLFRIEND ACT. Ever since she scribbled down her first story-a mystery featuring stolen cookies and an incriminating teddy bear-it's been her dream to be a writer and publish books that celebrate joy, heartbreak, swoony love interests, fierce female characters, and everything in-between.

Sara Hashem is an American-Egyptian writer from Southern California, where she spent many sunny days holed up indoors with a book. Sara's love for fantasy and magical realms emerged during the two years her family lived in Egypt. When she isn't busy naming stray cats in her neighborhood after her favorite authors, Sara can be found buried under coffee-ringed notebooks. She is currently pursuing her Juris Doctor degree as well as the perfect banana bread recipe.

Sashika is a queer Sri Lankan Tamil/Pakeha fantasy writer living in New Zealand. She spent her academic career steeped in South Asian history and classical myth. She creates lush worlds populated by complicated, diverse characters. 

Shannon Chakraborty is a speculative fiction writer from New York City. When not buried in books about Mughal miniatures and Abbasid political intrigue, she enjoys hiking, knitting, and recreating unnecessarily complicated medieval meals for her family.

Shoshana (she/they) writes Young Adult books about fat, queer, autistic teens who take no shit and get their happy endings—even if there’s a bit of trauma along the way. She's currently based out of Washington, D.C.

SJ Whitby is a nonbinary author from New Zealand with an interest in all things speculative and queer. They're inspired by the mysterious, and love to bring diverse worlds to life with their words. They've previously written the self-published series Cute Mutants, about queer teen superheroes.

Soon Jones is a second generation Korean American lesbian raised in the rural countryside of the American South. Writing traumatized, feral lesbians is like their whole thing. They are a multi-genre writer and poet, a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow, and an MFA candidate in Poetry at Oklahoma State University. An avid reader and gamer, they spent the majority of their childhood wandering the deep woods without a path or compass, but always found their way home before dinner.

Stephanie was born and raised in Mexico, and now lives in New England, where she fights the colder temperatures with tea and blankets. In her writing, she combines her Mexican heritage with magic, and a healthy pinch of complicated family dynamics. When she’s not writing, she can be found at the movies or deeply immersed in a DnD campaign.

Susan J. Morris is a fantasy author and editor, best known for a writing advice column featured on Amazon’s blog (which TIME magazine online once called “clever,” and which she henceforth has never let anyone forget), and her work editing Forgotten Realms novels. She is also the author of a middle-grade series of practical guides to fantastical things, the most recent of which is A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic, and designed D&D for Kids. Whenever she is able, Susan delights in running workshops for Clarion West and in moderating panels for writing symposiums. Susan lives in rainy Seattle with her partner, in a strange house filled with entirely too many amaryllis. When not wading through plants, she enjoys cooking, playing games, and teaching her cats to do tricks.

Suzi Silveira Guina is a first-generation Portuguese-American who loves to incorporate the stories and history of Portugal into her writing. She was selected to attend the “Writing the Luso Experience” workshop at the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal in 2019. She's a former college and high school English and Creative Writing instructor, and was a top-read writer for StoryLoom, an interactive fiction site.

Suzanne Samin (she/her) is a first-generation Syrian and Cuban-American author. In her first career as a journalist, she’s worked for The New York Times, Big Think, Mic, Bustle, Romper, and more. A native of New York City, she now lives in Vermont with her husband, Alex, their son Adrian, and a steadily increasing number of pets. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2013 with a major in journalism and a minor in moody Tumblr aesthetics. A metalhead and softie at heart, you can find her headbanging to Behemoth while baking pies and knitting scarves for her friends.

Taylor Rouanzion is the author of Rainbow Boy. She has been a part of local support groups for trans/gender-nonconforming kids and their parents. Her own child is gender nonconforming and has inspired Taylor to write for her and others like her so they can be seen in children’s literature. Taylor earned her master’s degree in library and information science and works as an elementary school librarian.

Tom Nieboer is an internationally produced playwright and novelist from Mora, Minnesota. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, daughter, and two unmanageable cats.

Trae Hawkins primarily writes fantasy and science fiction with themes exploring various forms of marginalization through Black and queer lenses. He graduated in 2021 from Penn State with a Master's in English and currently attends the University of Nevada, Reno for his MFA in creative writing. He is a student of the 2023 Viable Paradise workshop, the winner of We Need Diverse Books and Penguin Random House’s Black Creatives Revisions Workshop, and he teaches creative writing at UNR. In his free time, he watches anime, goes on hikes, and works as a freelance sensitivity reader, where he reads fiction and nonfiction for issues of sensitivity and representation.

Trevor Bream is an author, Dungeon Master, cat dad, and secretly a tadpole in human form. They want to tell stories that appeal to all, especially the queer community. Another Kind is their debut into the world of comics writing.

Tsultrim Dolma is a Tibetan activist based in Massachusetts. A former nun and political prisoner, she has first-hand experience with the Chinese occupation of Tibet. She first garnered attention for her testimony before Congress, and has since continued to advocate for Tibetan liberation across the U.S. Tsultrim has been profiled by multiple outlets, including The Independent, USA Today, and The Washington Times. Her own work has been featured in The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Amherst Bulletin, and The Greenfield Recorder. Tsultrim’s website features other various educational and narrative pieces, noting prominent Tibetan incidents while relating them to other injustices around the world.

Obtaining her college degree, then joining the military changed her life. Giving her the confidence to pursue writing–which isn’t something her family sees as a conventional job. As a Black, queer woman, and military veteran, her life experiences helped shape her writing and creativity. What she’s learned about movies through film journalism has been invaluable.

Valerie is now an Associate Editor at Deadline. Her seven years of freelance film writing experience amassed some impressive bylines for her resume, such as Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Collider, Conde Nast, Harper’s Bazaar, and many others.

Victoria Alexis is a Canadian writer of cozy fiction and chaotic characters. An enthusiastic writer since childhood, on the occasions she is not writing, she can usually be found wherever cats are also found, because there’s no better excuse for procrastinating than a cat sitting on your lap. They also enjoy coffee, knitting, and collecting antiques that may or may not be haunted. Victoria can be found on Instagram and Bluesky @victoriacbooks.

Chinese-Canadian author, Yuhan X. Tao, has dreamed of publishing fantasy stories since she was seven. Though her roots lie in Nanchang and Toronto, she later moved to Seattle to be closer to the mountains and the ocean, where she currently resides with her partner, her piano, and her menagerie of stuffed critters. When not working as an engineer, she can be spotted hiking, taking long walks in the city, or feeding the local park geese. Sophia is a finalist for the Mike Resnick Memorial Award for science fiction and a two-time finalist for the PNWA unpublished novel contest, and a graduate of the 2023 Taos Toolbox and Viable Paradise speculative fiction workshops.

Yuvashri Harish writes speculative fiction for YA and adult audiences, featuring Tamil main characters in dramatic, magical, and often terrifying situations. Born on Tharawal land and now living on Gadigal land, she is deeply passionate about creating worlds where brown girls are not just represented but are the protagonists of their own narrative. When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found eating pasta, watching Bob’s Burgers, and providing employment law advice and representation for disadvantaged and vulnerable people in New South Wales.

Zachary Tyler Linville grew up as a fan of 80’s and 90’s horror which has translated into his young adult writing. After earning a Bachelor’s in Film, he worked for MTV and HBO while writing his debut novel, Welcome to Deadland, a coming-of-age story set against a zombie apocalypse. He currently works as a middle school language arts and literacy intervention teacher in Denver, Colorado.