Contributors
Helen Corcoran lives in Dublin, Ireland, and works as a bookseller. When not found in a bookshop, she writes diverse YA, plays video games badly, and is a probably reading a book.1 Articles
Cindy Baldwin is a Carolina girl who moved to the opposite coast and is gamely doing her part in keeping Portland weird. She writes middle grade and young adult magical realism in addition to the occasional poem or creative non-fiction essay.1 Articles
Alex Bear is an editorial intern at Coffeetown Press. She’s devoured books all her life, including YA, and hopes to continue to do so for some time.1 Articles
Cristina Hartmann is a writer (also publishes sci-fi works under the pen name Victoria Halley) who likes to jump out of planes and read books (not at the same time). Cristina has a weakness for YA books featuring female protagonists who can wield a sword like nobody’s business. When she’s not writing, jumping out of planes, or reading, Cristina loves cooking, eating, and playing with fuzzy creatures. (Alas, she’s not a fish person.) She's the author of The Secret Value of Zero, a YA sci-fi dystopia.1 Articles
Ava Jae is a writer, an Assistant Editor at Entangled Publishing, and is represented by Louise Fury of The Bent Agency. Her YA Sci-Fi debut, Beyond the Red, is out now from Sky Pony Press. When she’s not writing about kissing, superpowers, explosions, and aliens, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or nerding out over the latest X-Men news.
Olivia Rivers is a hybrid author of Young Adult fiction. Her works include the independently published Tortured Elements and Duplicity series, along with the traditionally published novel Tone Deaf (Skyhorse 2016.) She has a passion for diversity in literature, and this has led to her works often featuring disabled main characters. As a certified geek, she enjoys experimenting with new publishing technologies, and her online serials have received over 1,000,000 hits on Wattpad.com. Olivia is represented by Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary
Gabe Cole Novoa is a trans Latinx author who writes speculative fiction featuring marginalized characters grappling with identity. His upcoming book, The Wicked Bargain, will be published by Random House Kids in 2022. He is also the author of the Beyond the Red trilogy, written under his former pseudonym, Ava Jae, and runs a popular writing-focused YouTube channel, bookishpixie.1 Articles
Logan W. is a recent college graduate trying to find her way in the big, scary world of legal services. As someone who's been writing stories with neurodivergent and disabled characters since before she can remember, Logan fell in love with Disability in Kidlit as soon as she first heard about it, and is very excited to get more involved. When not perusing the archives and Goodreads list for more good books to read, she can usually be found playing video games and/or talking altogether too much about whatever happens to have caught her interest.1 Articles
Melissa, who has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a form of muscular dystrophy, is a seventh-grader at Gibbons Middle School in Westborough, Massachusetts. In 2013, she started a viral petition for American Girl to release a Girl of the Year with a disability. The petition garnered over 140,000 signatures and was featured in CBS, USA Today, and other prominent news outlets. She has given a TEDx talk, spoke at the United Nations, and introduced Malala Yousafzai at the National Constitutional Center. She is the author of the middle grade novel, Mia Lee is Wheeling Through Middle School, available on Amazon.