Belen Medina is a children’s book author inspired by her Mexican heritage and bicultural upbringing in California’s Central Valley. Her debut picture book, Daughter of the Light-Footed People, received multiple starred reviews and was praised for its lyrical voice and powerful storytelling. Belen is moved by stories of migration, whether in nature or in humanity. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her two sons, who enjoy pointing out all her grammatical errors as she reads them draft after draft of her stories. 

Juana Martinez-Neal is a fine artist and illustrator who was born in Peru and now lives in the woods in eastern Connecticut, where she creates picture books. Her author-illustrator debut, Alma and How She Got Her Name, was a Caldecott Honor Book. Among other books she’s illustrated are La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya, for which she won the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award; Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa and Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, both of which won the Robert F. Sibert Medal; and the New York Times bestseller Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi.