Genre:
Fantasy

Beth Cato
Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in Red Wing, Minnesota. She usually has one or two cats in close orbit. A 2015 Nebula finalist, she is the author of the cozy mystery Cheddar Luck Next Time as well as fantasy like A Thousand Recipes for Revenge. Her short stories…

Sequoia Nagamatsu
Sequoia Nagamatsu is the author of the novel, How High We Go in the Dark, a national bestseller and The New York Times Editors’ Choice, as well as the story collection, Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone. His work has been a finalist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize and the…

Freeman Ng
Freeman Ng is a former Google software engineer and the author of Bridge Across the Sky (a YA verse novel based on the Chinese immigration experience through Angel Island), Basho’s Haiku Journeys (a haiku picture book), The House We Sheltered in and the Masks We Wore (a pandemic picture book), Joan (a novel of Joan…

C.M. Alongi
C. M. Alongi is a fantasy/sci-fi author and content creator in the Twin Cities. She’s best known for her TikTok series CaFae Latte and has published the sci-fi novel Citadel and fantasy novella series Blackwing. She graduated from Hamline University in 2017 with a double bachelor’s in history and social justice. When she’s not reading…

Metra Farrari
A UW-Madison school of journalism graduate, Metra Farrari landed her dream job right out of college to become a member of the production team for the final three seasons of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Chicago proved to be fruitful; Farrari picked up a husband, a big-boned (fat) cat, and lifelong friends, but the draw of…

Payal Doshi
Payal Doshi has a Master’s in Creative Writing (Fiction) from The New School, New York. Having lived in the UK and US, she noticed a lack of Indian protagonists in global children’s fiction and one day wrote the opening paragraph to what would become her first children’s novel. She was born and raised in Mumbai,…

Cristina Oxtra
Cristina Oxtra is a Filipino American children’s book author. She earned an MFA in creative writing for children and young adults at Hamline University and a B.A. in journalism. She received The Loft Literary Center’s 2019-2020 Mirrors & Windows Fellowship for indigenous writers and writers of color and is a teaching artist at The Loft.…

Joan Marie Verba
Joan Marie Verba is an author, publisher, and web developer. An experienced writer, she is the author of the nonfiction books Voyager: Exploring the Outer Planets and Boldly Writing, as well as fiction such as Twelve, Defying the Ghosts, Sword of Queens, and Wondry Dragon Finds a Home, among many other books and short stories.…

Tom Xavier
Tom Xavier is the award-winning author of Neffatira’s First Challenge, described by Kirkus Reviews as a “rousing series opener with equal portions of action and social commentary” and Dark Curses, Faerie Dreams, recipient of a Mom’s Choice Awards Gold Seal in Juvenile Fiction, a 2018 Book Excellence Awards Finalist, and a Royal Dragonfly Book Awards…

Joanne Vruno
Joanne Vruno grew up in Maplewood, Minnesota, just houses away from Battle Creek Regional Park, where she spent most of her childhood days hiking and exploring. Her love for nature and the wooded parkland bordering Battle Creek created the magic of the Seasons of Elves series, just as her love for the lakes created her…