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Amina Baha

Amina Baha is a Minneapolis-based operations leader, nonprofit founder, and lifelong student of Afghan history and culture. A first-generation Afghan refugee who came to...
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Sandra Hisakuni

Sandra Hisakuni is a writer, poet, and English language teacher who has lived and taught in Japan, China, and the United States. She is...
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Marique Moss

Marique Moss is an Afro Indigenous (Hidatsa and African American) author, poet, educator, and herbalist from Minneapolis, MN. An enrolled citizen of the Mandan,...
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Derek Francis

Derek Francis is a lifelong Twin Cities resident and educator with more than 15 years of experience. He began as a high school counselor,...
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Lynn Garthwaite

Lynn Garthwaite is the author of 11 books, including mysteries, non-fiction, and children’s early chapter books. She has short stories in four anthologies and...
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Charissa Bates

Charissa Bates is an award-winning children’s author, children’s mental health therapist, and speaker who is passionate about helping families find joy through storytelling. She...
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Connie Wanek

Connie Wanek lived for over a quarter century in Duluth, Minnesota. She is the author of 10 books, including Rival Gardens: New and Selected...
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Vanessa Lee Christensen

Vanessa Lee Christensen graduated with an M.A. in Education & Human Development from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She is daughter to...
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Melissa Gish

Melissa Gish is the author of dozens of juvenile nonfiction books on topics ranging from biography, history, and industry to science and nature. She...
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Kevin Strauss

Kevin Strauss is an award-winning author and professional storyteller based in Rochester Minnesota. Strauss focuses on telling and writing folktales that connect people with...

Paige Riehl

Paige Riehl is the author of the poetry collection Suspension and the poetry chapbook Blood Ties. Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications such as Artful Dodge, Crab Orchard Review, Water~Stone Review, Portland Review, and Meridian. She was a finalist for the 2017 Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry and winner of the Loft Mentor…
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Monica Rojas

Monica Rojas is a bilingual queer Chilean-American who hopes to engage communities through writing and artistic practices involving magical realism, joy, and play. She wrote the picture book Nana and Abuela, received a Mirrors and Windows Fellowship through the Loft Literary Center, is a member of SCBWI, and has created many interactive art installations. Rojas…
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Nathan Sacks

Nathan Sacks is a professional academic dissertation editor, children’s and young adult book writer, graphic novel translator, and occasional journalist. He was born and raised in Ames, Iowa and currently lives in uptown Minneapolis. He works on fiction, book-length nonfiction, and scholarly writing, and aims to provide fresh and original writing in a variety of…
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Laura Purdie Salas

Laura Purdie Salas has written more than 130 books for kids, including Lion of the Sky, the Can Be… series (Bank Street Best Books, IRA Teachers’ Choice), BookSpeak! (Minnesota Book Award, NCTE Notable), and Clover Kitty Goes to Kittygarten. Science and poetry are her first loves, and she enjoys mashing up different genres and styles.…
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Kurtis Scaletta

Kurtis Scaletta is the author of several novels for young readers including Mudville, Mamba Point, The Tanglewood Terror, The Winter of the Robots, and Rooting for Rafael Rosales. He also wrote the Topps League series. Scaletta was born in Louisiana, but moved a lot as a kid. He lived in five states and three foreign…
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Barbara Schlichting

Barbara Schlichting has been writing for as long as she can remember. “My grandpa gave me a pen and tablet when I was about ten, and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” says Schlicting. “My pen pal of 55 years is really the one who kept me writing and using my imagination. We…
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Ann Schoenbohm

Ann Schoenbohm holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota and a BFA in acting from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She currently volunteers with several organizations as a literacy tutor and teaches writing in Minneapolis community education programs. Rising Above Shepherdsville is her debut…
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Stephen Shaskan

Stephen Shaskan is the author and illustrator of several picture books including: Big Choo, Toad on the Road, Max Speed, The Three Triceratops Tuff, A Dog is a Dog, and the graphic novel series Pizza and Taco. He also illustrated the picture book Punk Skunks and the graphic novel series Q and Ray, both written…
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Trisha Speed Shaskan

Trisha Speed Shaskan has written over 40 books for children, including the picture book Punk Skunks and Q & Ray graphic novel series, both illustrated by her husband and children’s book author and illustrator, Stephen Shaskan. For the past 20 years, she has taught a variety of creative writing classes to students at every level…
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Crown Shepherd

Crown Shepherd is an author and reading advocate. She has dedicated her life to closing the illiteracy rate within the Black community. Shepherd believes if you can read, you can learn, if you can learn, you can grow, and if you can grow, you can be anything!
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