Authors

John Grisham is the author of forty-seven consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include The Boys From Biloxi, The Judge's List, Sooley, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series.

Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

When he's not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.

John lives on a farm in central Virginia.

Chanel Cleeton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Next Year in Havana, When We Left Cuba, The Last Train to Key West, and The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. Originally from Florida, Chanel grew up on stories of her family's exodus from Cuba following the events of the Cuban Revolution. Her passion for politics and history continued during her years spent studying in England where she earned a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Richmond, The American International University in London and a master's degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Chanel also received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Brian Selznick grew up in New Jersey and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Art and Design in 1988. He worked for two years after graduation at Eeyore's Books for Children in New York City. His first book was published while he worked there.

Brian has also designed theater sets and worked as a professional puppeteer. His first book, The Houdini Box, was inspired by a fascination with the famous magician. He has illustrated both novels and picture books for other writers, including the Sibert Honor books, When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan and Walt Whitman: Words for America by Barbara Kerley. His illustrations for Barbara Kerley's The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins won a Caldecott Honor Award in 2002; and in 2008, his groundbreaking book The Invention of Hugo Cabret was awarded the Caldecott Medal. It was nominated for a National Book Award and was the basis for Martin Scorsese's Oscar winning film Hugo. His follow up illustrated novel, Wonderstruck, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Brian's next book, The Marvels, will be published in the fall of 2015. Brian divides his time between New York, and San Diego.

S.A. Cosby is the New York Times national best selling award-winning author from Southeastern Virginia. His books include MY DARKEST PRAYER, Blacktop Wasteland, Amazon's #1 Mystery and Thriller of the Year and #3 Best Book of 2020 overall, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, Winner of the LA Times Book Award for Mystery or Thrillers and a Goodreads Choice Awards Semifinalist and the winner of the ITW award for hard cover book of the year, the Macavity for best novel of the year, the Anthony, The Barry , a honorable mention from the ALA Black Caucus and was a finalists for the CWA Golden Dagger. He is also author of the best selling RAZORBLADE TEARS which was also nominated for numerous awards as well

His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, and his story "Slant-Six" was selected as a Distinguished Story in Best American Mystery Stories for 2016. His short story "The Grass Beneath My Feet" won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story in 2019. His writing has been called "gritty and heartbreaking" and "dark, thrilling and tragic" and "raw ,emotional and profound "

Serhii Plokhy is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard and the director of the university's Ukrainian Research Institute. The author of numerous books, including "The Last Empire," which received the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations, and "Chernobyl," which was awarded the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction, Plokhy lives in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Erin Hunter is the author of the bestselling Warriors and Seekers series. She is inspired by a love of animals and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior.

Mark Lawrence is married with four children, one of whom is severely disabled. His day job is as a research scientist focused on various rather intractable problems in the field of artificial intelligence. He has held secret level clearance with both US and UK governments. At one point he was qualified to say 'this isn't rocket science ... oh wait, it actually is'.

Between work and caring for his disabled child, Mark spends his time writing, playing computer games, tending an allotment, brewing beer, and avoiding DIY.

Jesse Cole is the founder of Fans First Entertainment and owner of the Savannah Bananas. He’s fanatic about fandom and launched the Savannah Bananas with one mission: to spark a fan-focused movement. Whether at the ballpark, on social media, onstage delivering keynotes, in features for ESPN and Entrepreneur, or in his first book, Find Your Yellow Tux, Jesse continues to create fans all over the world.

The Bananas have sold out every game since their first season and have a waitlist for tickets in the thousands. They have entertained millions of fans in Savannah and at ballparks all over their country on their Banana Ball Tour.

Jesse is the proud inventor of Banana Ball and Dolce & Banana underwear and not-so-proud promoter of the Human Horse Race and Flatulence Fun Night. He’s a raving fan of his wife, Emily, his kids, and peerless promoters like Walt Disney, PT Barnum, and Bill Veeck. Jesse owns seven yellow tuxedos.

Camille T. Dungy is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Trophic Cascade. Her debut essay collection is Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History. Dungy has also edited anthologies including Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry and From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems That Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great. Her honors include an American Book Award, two Northern California Book Awards, two NAACP Image Award nominations, and a fellowship from the NEA. A professor at Colorado State University, Dungy lives with her family in northern Colorado.