Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’s fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. His graphic novel American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner, has been adapted into a streaming series on Disney+. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the LA Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award finalist. His nonfiction graphic novel Dragon Hoops received an Eisner Award and a Printz honor. His other comics works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), as well as Superman Smashes the Klan and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series (both with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.


Les McClaine is the Eisner Award–nominated author of Jonny Crossbones, Life With Leslie, Repeat Until Death, and Highway 13. He has also illustrated numerous comics including The Tick and The Middleman. His other illustration credits include Tune: Still Life, Head Games: The Graphic Novel, Old Souls, and Maker Comics: Live Sustainably!, all from First Second.


Alison Acton is a Canadian artist with a background in comics and traditional animation. She’s worked for studios like Spumco, Pocket Gems, and Big Jump, and publishers like Harper Collins, Tokyopop, and First Second. She loves creating expressive characters, writing snarky dialogue, jiu-jitsu, and long dog walks away from her three boys who always invade the office and shed Lego EVERYWHERE.