The ‘Booth Crew

Carrie Jones

is the NYT Bestselling author of the NEED series, which is also an international bestseller, and three other award-winning novels. Her first picture book, Sarah Emma Edmonds was a Great Pretender received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. She is the co-editor of Dear Bully, 70 Young Adult Authors Share Their Stories. A former newspaper editor and photographer, she holds a MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College and contributes to Through the Tollbooth, a writing blog. Visit her at www.carriejonesbooks.com.

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Tami Lewis Brown

is the author of Soar, Elinor! which will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in October, 2010. Her middle grade novel, The Map of Me, will follow in August 2011. Tami was born in West Virginia, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in one of the oldest houses in Washington, DC. She received an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adult from Vermont College where she now serves on the Board of Trustees.

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Helen Hemphill

is a native Texan and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Her third novel The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones was the winner of the Virginia M. Law Award for most distinguished book for young adults on Texas history from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library. Her second book Runaround was named a Top Ten Youth Romance by Booklist. Helen has a masters degree in English literature and a undergraduate degree in theatre. She’s currently writing a mystery thriller for young adults.
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Liz Gallagher

is the author of The Opposite of Invisible (Wendy Lamb Books, 2008) and a forthcoming companion novel. She’s currently working on a ghost story with a twist. In her capacity as readergirlz Seattle HOST, Liz goes to tons of young adult book events and blogs about them. When she’s not writing or reading or stalking other authors, she loves to ride her Vespa around Seattle (even in the rain). You can visit her online at www.lizgallagher.com.

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Sarah Sullivan

was born in West Virginia and grew up in Colorado.  Her second book, Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother, was an Oppenheim Gold Portfolio Award winner.  Her latest book is Once Upon a Baby Brother (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010) and her next book, Passing the Music Down is forthcoming from Candlewick in 2011.  Her poetry has appeared in Cricket and other magazines.  She is currently writing a middle grade novel.

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Gretchen Géser

grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and now lives in upstate New York. She uses ink, watercolor, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Painter to create her artwork. Because she believes that character is as important in illustration as in writing, she devotes a lot of time to faces and gestures when illustrating her characters. She is the author-illustrator of the forthcoming picture book, One Big Smile, to be published by Henry Holt for Young Readers. View Gretchen’s portfolio online at www.gretchengeser.com.

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Sarah Aronson

has always been a person willing to change her mind.  Before finding writing, she worked as a personal trainer, physical therapist, religious school director, and most recently, a book seller for a small publisher.  Sarah has a BA from Rutgers College and an MSPT from Arcadia College.  She loves watching sports, drinking coffee, cooking spicy food, and like Ari Fish, the protagonist of her newest novel, Beyond Lucky, she’s always been a little superstitious. Sarah loves teaching online classes for writers.com. Her students will tell you, her mantras are: “don’t revise, re-imagine,” and “celebrate every step.”  For more information, both useful and random, check out her website: www.saraharonson.com.

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Zu Vincent

writes for both children and adults.  A freelance writer and former editor, she wrote her novel The Lucky Place (Front Street Press) while earning her MFA from Vermont College, where she was awarded the Harcourt semester in 2006. Among her many published works are short stories, a play, essays for Harper’s, Yoga Journal and the ALAN Review, and the 2009 Scholastic biography Catherine the Great: Empress of Russia. The Lucky Place is an Honor Book for the Paterson Prize.

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Clete Barrett Smith

Clete Barrett Smith’s first novel, Aliens on Vacation, will be published by Disney-Hyperion Books for Children in May, 2011. A sequel, part of The Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast series for middle grade readers, will come out the following year. A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, Clete has taught English, Drama and Speech at the high school level for over a dozen years and has also worked in journalism. Clete received his MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in January 2010.

Teresa Harris

is the author of Summer Jackson: Grown-Up, which will be published by HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books in June 2011. Her middle-grade novel, Love, Treasure, which will be published by Clarion Books, will follow. Teresa was born in New York City and raised in the wild (not really) suburbs of New Jersey. She received her undergraduate degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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Michelle Knudsen

is the author of more than 40 books for children, including the award-winning and New York Times bestselling picture book Library Lion. Her latest book is the middle-grade fantasy adventure The Dragon of Trelian. A former full-time children’s book editor, Michelle continues to edit manuscripts on a freelance basis and has also worked as a bookseller, substitute teacher, library supervisor, and managing editor, among other things. She is currently teaching children’s book writing at Gotham WritersWorkshop in NYC. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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N. Griffin

is a graduate of Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.  She is the downtrodden hired girl to a couple of dachshunds (which is just the way the little fiends like it) as well as the author of a forthcoming YA novel (Atheneum 2013).  She’d like to mention that she is the captain of a champion roller derby team, too, but she can’t because this is a big lie.  She is kind of super at Boggle, though.

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Sarah Blake Johnson

has stepped in quicksand in Brazil, walked on the Baltic Ocean in Finland, cooked dinner in a geyser in Iceland, learned to play an ancient Chinese instrument in southern China, and explored abandoned castles ruins in Germany, all places she has lived. She and her family currently live in Frankfurt, Germany. Her ex-pat experiences are reflected in her photography and writing. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.