New York Times–bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly was awarded the Newbery Medal for
Hello, Universe and a Newbery Honor for
We Dream of Space. She grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now lives in Delaware. She is a professor of children’s literature in the graduate fiction and publishing programs at Rosemont College, where she earned her MFA, and is on the faculty at Hamline University. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Philippines Free Press Literary Award for Short Fiction and the Pushcart Prize. Erin Entrada Kelly’s debut novel,
Blackbird Fly, was a Kirkus Best Book, a School Library Journal Best Book, an ALSC Notable Book, and an Asian/Pacific American Literature Honor Book. She is also the author of
The Land of Forgotten Girls, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature;
You Go First, a Spring 2018 Indie Next Pick;
Lalani of the Distant Sea, an Indie Next Pick; and
Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey, which she also illustrated. The author’s mother was the first in her family to immigrate to the United States from the Philippines, and she now lives in Cebu.
Amielynn Abellera, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, has worked at the Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Repertory, San Jose Stage, Shakespeare Center of LA, MainStreet Theatre, Theatre @ Boston Court, Chalk Repertory, Artists at Play, LA Women’s Shakespeare, and Katselas Theatre Company. She received her MFA degree in acting from the University of Southern California and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.