Contributors
Chloe Smith is a student from the UK. She is a freelance writer, poet and hopeful one-day author of a YA novel. She has Cerebral Palsy and uses a wheelchair, so she can usually be found sitting quietly, either reading or writing.1 Articles
Laura Brown lives in Massachusetts with her quirky family. Her husband’s put up with her since high school, her young son keeps her on her toes, and her three cats think they deserve more scratches. Hearing loss is a big part of who she is, from her own Hard of Hearing ears, to the characters she creates.1 Articles
Writer, actor and occasional print model. Trained in the fine art of Lying Creative Truths, studied at the Institution of Making Things Up, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in the field of Convincing People to Give Him Money in Exchange for the Performance of Ridiculous Labors. Significant moments in his career training have involved falling out of windows, driving other people’s expensive cars without crashing or obeying traffic laws, and kissing pretty boys and girls because the nice man in the director’s chair assured him it was a legitimate acting gig. His last recorded full night’s sleep was in the late nineties, and he would really appreciate it if you’d pass him some more coffee.2 Articles
Eden Grey is a Teen Librarian and YA Lit reviewer. She works at the busiest branch library in Kentucky. Eden contributes to Teen Services Underground and YA Books Central.1 Articles
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
Rachel M. Wilson studied theater at Northwestern and received her MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her debut novel Don't Touch, about a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder, came out from HarperTeen in September 2014. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called it: "A vulnerable, moving, and often witty story about the terrible price of self-protection." Also look for “The Game of Boys and Monsters,” an eerie standalone short from HarperTeen Impulse. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Rachel now writes, acts, and teaches in Chicago, Illinois.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.