Author Bios

Jen Wang is a graphic novelist and cartoonist known for her emotionally resonant stories for young readers. Her work explores identity, friendship, and belonging through vivid visual storytelling.

Stephen Shapiro is an innovation consultant, keynote speaker, and author specializing in problem reframing and organizational creativity. His work helps businesses move past conventional thinking to find breakthrough solutions.

William Burckart is co-founder and president of The Investment Integration Project (TIIP), a research and consulting firm focused on system-level investing. He works with institutional investors on strategies that address large-scale environmental, social, and economic challenges.

Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple mystery series. Her work is noted for its meticulous historical research and its portrayal of Japanese American communities across the twentieth century.

Natalie Diaz is a Mojave American poet and language activist, born and raised on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation in Needles, California. She is a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (2021) for her collection Postcolonial Love Poem (Graywolf Press, 2020), as well as a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and numerous other…

Jeff Kinney is an American author and illustrator, best known as the creator of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, one of the best-selling children’s book franchises in publishing history. Born in 1971 in Maryland, Kinney originally developed the series as a webcomic before Amulet Books published the first volume in 2007. The series…

Ryan La Sala is an American author known for queer YA fiction that blends horror, fantasy, and sharp social observation. He is best known for his debut novel Reverie (2019) and the acclaimed horror novel The Honeys (2022), published by Push/Scholastic. His work consistently features nonbinary and queer protagonists navigating worlds where identity, power, and…