Sara Conway (she/her) is a Chinese American adoptee based in New York and Taiwan. A lover of a good story, Sara is the creator behind the bookstagram Lyrical Reads and the Digital Editor at EnVi Media. Although books are her #1 love, you can also find her learning Mandarin, listening to K-pop, heading to another concert, or petting all the cats she sees.

Sophie Schmidt (she/her) grew up always looking forward to the Scholastic Book Fair and trips to the library. This steady love for books has led her to a career in publishing, where she’s currently an assistant editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books. She’s had the pleasure of working on a variety of age categories and formats, including #1 New York Times bestselling A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, 5-time star reviewed Icarus by K. Ancrum, and Harvey nominated Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Club: Time to Party by Molly Knox Ostertag and Xanthe Bouma. 

Originally from west Michigan, Sophie now lives in New Jersey with her two cats and her partner, dreaming up adoptee stories she’s always wanted. When not writing, you can find her yelling about books she loves on Bookstagram or completing her mission to find the best bubble tea in New York City.

Eric Smith (he/him) is a literary agent and Young Adult author from Elizabeth, New Jersey.

As an agent with P.S. Literary, he’s worked on New York Times bestselling and award-winning books. His recent novels include the YALSA Best Books for Young Readers selection Don’t Read the Comments (Inkyard Press, 2020), You Can Go Your Own Way (Inkyard Press, 2021), and the anthologies Battle of the Bands (Candlewick, 2021) and First-Year Orientation (Candlewick, 2023), both co-edited with award-winning author Lauren Gibaldi.

In 2022 Abrams published Jagged Little Pill: The Novel, which was written in collaboration with Alanis Morissette, Academy award-winner Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, and is an adaptation of the Grammy and Tony award winning musical.

His latest novel, With or Without You, a rom-com about two teens working in rival cheesesteak trucks, published in 2023, and was a Junior Library Guild selection.
His other books include the IndieBound bestseller The Geek’s Guide to Dating (Quirk), the Inked duology (Bloomsbury), and The Girl and the Grove (Flux). His writing has sold into nine languages. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and son, and enjoys video games, pop punk, and crying over every movie.

Shannon Gibney (she/her) is a writer, educator, and activist. She is author of several books, including The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption, which received a Michael L. Printz Honor and a Minnesota Book Award; See No Color and Dream Country, both winners of Minnesota Book Awards; Where We Come From (co-authored), winner of the 2023 Carter G. Woodson Award; and the children’s picture books Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight and  We Miss You, George Floyd (published November, 2024). A Bush Artist and McKnight Writing Fellow, Gibney teaches at Minneapolis College, where she was named Educator of the Year in 2023. She lives with her two children in Minneapolis.

Sarah Myer (they/them) (Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures) is an Eisner-nominated comic artist, writer, and colorist whose work has been published by Macmillan/First Second Books, IDW Publishing, Dynamite Comics, VIZ Media, Good Trouble Comics, and Little Red Bird Press. Throughout their career, they’ve provided illustrations which have been approved for publication by powerhouse entertainment companies such as Nickelodeon, Capcom, Disney, and Sanrio. In addition to official IP work illustrating TMNT, Usagi Yojimbo, Darkwing Duck/Disney Afternoon, Hello Kitty, and Street Fighter characters, Sarah’s broad range extends to writing and illustrating nonfiction comics focusing on history, politics, memoir, and how-to instructional narrative.

Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom (she/her) is a Korean adoptee, comic book artist, writer and adoptee rights activist. She’s published two graphic novels: Palimpsest (2016), an autobiographical account of the search for her Korean roots and The Excavated Earth (2022), which follows adoptees who were stolen from their families in Chile and sold for adoption to Sweden. She’s working on her third graphic novel, Invisible Lives, about adoptees and mental health. Lisa lives in Busan, South Korea, with her partner, children and cats.

Shelley Gaske (she/her) is a queer and disabled adoptee writing in Oregon. An attendee of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a 2025 Key West Literary Seminar Fellow, her work appears in 68 to 05, The Ana, and elsewhere.

KB Brookins (they/them) is a writer, educator, and cultural worker from Texas. They are the author of How To Identify Yourself with a Wound (Kallisto Gaia Press 2022), Freedom House (Deep Vellum 2023), and Pretty (Alfred A. Knopf 2024). Follow them online at @earthtokb.

Kristen Felicetti (she/her) is the author of the novel Log Off. For over a decade, she edited the literary magazine The Bushwick Review. She is based in Rochester, NY.

Mariama J. Lockington (she/her) is an adoptee, author, and educator. Mariama’s middle-grade debut, For Black Girls Like Me, earned five starred reviews and was a Today Show Best Kids’ Book of 2019. Her sophomore middle-grade book, In The Key of Us, earned a Stonewall Honor Award and was featured in the New York Times. Her debut young adult novel, Forever is Now, is the 2024 winner of the Schneider Family Teen Book Award. Mariama’s forthcoming YA novel, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, will be out October 14th, 2025.

Mariama’s poetry has appeared in a number of magazines and journals, including Buzzfeed News Reader, Bodega Magazine, and Prelude Magazine, and she is the author of the poetry chapbook The Lucky Daughter (2016). She is a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Alum, a Voices of Our Nation Arts Alum, a Hedgebrook Alum, and she holds a Masters in Education from Lesley University and a Masters in Fine Arts in Poetry from San Francisco State University.

Mariama calls many places home, but currently lives in Kentucky with her wife and an abundance of plants. You can find her on Bluesky @marilock and on Instagram/TikTok @forblackgirlslikeme.

Nari Kirk (she/her) is a Korean American writer, educator, and public library professional. She has done editorial work with Blue Mesa Review, Poetry Northwest, and Best of the Net Anthology. Her writing has been published in Hobart, Laurel Review, Plume: A Writer’s Companion, and the anthology All the Women in My Family Sing. She resides two ferry rides from Seattle. Connect with her on Instagram @biblionari.

Rob Arnold (he/him) is a CHamoru poet, essayist, and arts leader whose work has appeared in Ploughshares, Hyphen, Gettysburg Review, Poetry Northwest, RED INK, Yes Poetry, The Ocean State Review, Peripheries, The Volta, and Solstice, among others, and has been anthologized in New CHamoru Literature and Na’huyong: An Anthology of CHamoru Literature. His poems and essays have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and have received support from the Somerville Arts Council, the Jack Straw Cultural Center, and Artist Trust. A graduate of NYFA’s 2023 Incubator for Executive Leaders of Color, Rob has dedicated his career to building access in publishing and advancing equity in literary spaces, a passion he carries into his current role as Executive Director of Poets House. Previously, he co-founded Memorious and worked with Ploughshares, Fence Books, Beacon Press, PEN New England, The National Poetry Series, the National Endowment for the Arts, Grid Books, Aevitas Creative Management, and Hugo House, where he was Interim Executive Director. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Stefany Valentine (she/her) is an emerging young adult author. Her first publication is featured in the adoptee anthology, When We Became Ours, with her debut novel, First Love Language, releasing on January 14, 2025. Her sophomore title, Love Makes Mochi, is expected to release with Joy Revolution in 2026. Follow her for updates on TikTok and Instagram @BooksByStefany.(Photo credit: Dru Valentine)

Jonathan Wittmaier (he/him) is a Korean American writer, educator, and artist. A transracial adoptee—he was born in Seoul, South Korea and was raised in southern New Jersey. His writing has appeared in Water~Stone Review, Philadelphia Stories Magazine, The Museum of Americana: A Literary Review, Visible Magazine, The Rising Phoenix Review, WordCity Literary Journal, and Weave (a zine created by PNW Kundiman), and is a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the Creative Writing Award for Dramatic Writing (Adelphi Univ. 2018). He has taught English and creative writing at various university and college campuses including Adelphi University and Suffolk County Community College. He currently hosts Unsung Poetry, a reading series at Seattle University, where he also serves as the Manager of the Student Resource Network. You can follow him on IG(@jonathanwittmaier) or find out more at JonathanWittmaier.com.