Rosswood, Eric

Rosswood, Eric

Eric Rosswood is a multi-award-winning author whose broad body of work centers around family, authenticity, diversity, hope, and strength. His best selling parenting books focus on the LGBTQ+ journey to parenthood and have helped couples around the world start their own families. His latest picture book, STRONG, featuring the world’s first and only openly gay professional strongman, won a 2023 Stonewall Honor from the American Library Association.  www.EricRosswood.com

Awards
Stonewall Honor Book (2013)
WINNER – Best Parenting/Family/Relationships book – IAN Book of the Year Awards (2017)
WINNER – Best Parenting book – Readers’ Favorite Book Awards (2017)
WINNER – Best LGBTQ Non-Fiction book – International Best Book Awards (2017)
AWARD-WINNING FINALIST International Book Awards (2017)

3 Fun Facts

1. Once participated in a giant pillow fight flash mob with hundreds of other people.
2. Climbed to the top of Mount Fuji.
3. Stayed the night in a hotel made out of ice. Even the bed was made out of ice!

Roxas, Isabel

Roxas, Isabel

Isabel Roxas is a storyteller and graphic artist. Her debut graphic novel, The Adventures of Team Pom: Squid Happens features three questing kids, a lonely giant squid, dramatic synchronized swimming routines, nefarious rats in bowler hats, mayhem and pigeons.

She has also illustrated several books for young readers, including Our Skin: A First Conversation about Race by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli and Holding On by Sophie N. Lee.

Isabel was born in Manila, Philippines, was raised on luscious mangoes, old wives’ tales, and monsoon moons. She now resides in New York City with her husband and several adopted plants. https://studioroxas.com/

Awards/Honors
2022 Society of Illustrators Original Art show (Holding On)
2022 American Library Association Notable Book (Our Skin)
2022 NCTE Notable Books in Poetry (My Thoughts are Clouds)
2021 Society of Illustrators Original Art show (Team Pom)
2021 CLPE Core reading list (Team Pom)

3 Fun Facts

1. I always trip myself while walking.
2. I can’t resist a crane claw machine. Even though I am absolutely terrible at playing it and have NEVER won a toy, I am forever hopeful.
3. I enjoy collecting facts about pigeons. Did you know? It is a misconception that they dirty animals. They actually like to groom themselves and bathe often, especially during the summer months.

Rogers, Kheris

Rogers, Kheris

Kheris Rogers is an author and CEO of the widely known apparel brand and social movement “Flexin’ In My Complexion.” Born in 2006 in Los Angeles, California, Rogers started Flexin’ In My Complexion after years of bullying in school because of her dark skin complexion. At just 10 years old, she became the world’s youngest designer to ever showcase at New York Fashion Week. Her clothing line has been worn by celebrities such as Whoopi Goldburg, Lupita N’yongo, Lena Waithe, and Alicia Keys. flexininmycomplexion.com

Awards
Teen Vogue 21 Under 21, InStyle Magazine’s Badass 50 list, and honored by the Princess Diana Organization

3 Fun Facts

1. Kheris is a Leo, youngest designer to ever showcase at New York Fashion Week and is a teen entrepreneur

Reidy, Jean

Reidy, Jean

When Jean Reidy was a kid, she was a reader, a writer, a poet and a dreamer. She’s happy to still be that kid at heart. Her bestselling and award-winning picture books have earned their spots as favorites among readers and listeners of all ages and from all over the world. Truman, also illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins, was a Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor winner, a Colorado Book Award winner and was recognized on “Best of” lists by School Library Journal, the New York Times, NPR and Amazon. Visit Jean at https://jeanreidy.com/.

3 Fun Facts

1. I’ve never had a pet spider, but I have resided with an assortment of not-so-well-behaved turtles, parakeets, lizards, goldfish, hamsters and even one feisty, fire-bellied toad.
2. My favorite food is crunchy peanut butter … right off the spoon.
3. I’m a fan of football, train trips and tall, tall mountains.

Rissi, Anica Mrose

Rissi, Anica Mrose

Anica Mrose Rissi is the author of the Anna, Banana chapter-book series; the picture books Watch Out for Wolf!, The Teacher’s Pet, and Love, Sophia on the Moon; the middle-grade collection Hide and Don’t Seek: And Other Very Scary Stories; and the YA novels Always Forever Maybe and Nobody Knows But You. Her essays have been published by The Writer and the New York Times, and she plays fiddle in and writes lyrics for the band Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves. Find out more at anicarissi.com, and follow @anicarissi on Instagram and Twitter.

Awards:
Anica’s books have been published in multiple languages around the world. Her most recent picture book, Love, Sophia on the Moon, won the Maine Literary Award and the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, and Hide and Don’t Seek was named a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.

3 Fun Facts

1. Played the National Anthem on her viola at a Boston Celtics game
2. Grew up on a small island off the coast of Maine, where there were only 24 kids in her class at school
3. Lives with a very good dog named Arugula

Roehrig, Artemis

Roehrig, Artemis

Artemis Roehrig is the author (with co-author Corinne Demas) of three nonfiction picture books with Cornell Lab/Persnickety Press: Do Doodlebugs Doodle? Amazing Insect Facts, Does A Fiddler Crab Fiddle?, Do Jellyfish Like Peanut Butter? Amazing Sea Creature Facts and two rhyming picture books with Scholastic: Are Pirates Polite? and The Grumpy Pirate (out in June). Artemis is also the author for Storey Publishing’s Tattoos That Teach series. When she isn’t busy with her two kids or finishing her YA manuscript, she works with invasive insects for the Department of Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst. www.artemisroehrig.com

California Reading Association Silver Eureka Award for Do Doodlebugs Doodle? Amazing Insect Facts

3 Fun Facts

1. I have four pet tarantulas.
2. I have been playing the violin since I was four and a half.
3. I didn’t go on an airplane until I was 18.

Roy, Jennifer

Roy, Jennifer

Jennifer Roy is an award-winning, bestselling author or many books including Yellow Star, the Trading Faces series with Julia DeVillers, Jars of Hope, Mindblind, and her newest book Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein, inspired by the true story of a boy growing up in Iraq during the first Gulf War. Ms. Roy’s books have won numberous honors including the Boston Globe. She lives near Albany, NY and loves to read. www.jenniferroy.com

3 Fun Facts

1. I have an identical twin sister Julia DeVillers, who is also an author.
2. I spent childhood summers on my grandparents’ farm in Copake, Columbia County.
3. I have a Shih Tzu-Maltese mix and a rescue cat.

Raff, Anna

Raff, Anna

Anna Raff is an award-winning illustrator of several books for children. Before her career as an illustrator, she was a designer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and several children’s book publishers in New York City. When she is not drawing, she teaches illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, designs websites and book trailers, and recently animated a music video.  www.annaraff.com/

Awards
– Starred reviews: Kirkus, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal
– New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
– Bank Street Best Book of the Year
– The Original Art Show, Society of Illustrators

3 Fun Facts

1. When I was a kid, I had a robot factory in my basement.
2. I am an avid birder, and so far I have seen almost 200 different species in New York City.
3. I am left-handed, but throw a frisbee right-handed.

Reynolds, Jason

Reynolds, Jason

New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds is the author of the critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest. He is a National Book Award Finalist, a Kirkus Prize winner, a Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. His work includes the recently published Long Way Down and Miles Morales: Spider Man , as well as, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely), As Brave As You , the first two books in the Track series, Ghost and Patina . He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program. www.jasonwritesbooks.com

3 Fun Facts

1. I know how to crochet…REALLY well.
2. I have thirteen tattoos.
3. My last haircut was 14 years ago.

Rogers, Jacqueline

Rogers, Jacqueline

Some of my notable published work is the Beverly Cleary’s backlist, including the wonderful Ramona series in 2013-14. I loved working with Laura Bush and Jenna Bush Hager on the picture book, “Our Great Big Backyard” in 2016, a NY Times #1 Bestseller.  Recently, I illustrated two picture books for Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman.  The first, “Little Ree” also a bestseller, and then “Little Ree, Best Friends Forever”  came out in 2018.  2019 welcomed “Goblin Moon” published by Harper Collins.  An original halloween poem I wrote and illustrated. While I still love to illustrate other authors’ manuscripts, I have found that my love for developing characters has led me to writing and illustrating my own picture books and now graphic novels. Writing for an older age group is very exciting, and I am working in photoshop and procreate to build a digital style to go with these stories. www.jacquelinerogers.com

Our Great Big Backyard written by Laura Bush and Jenna Bush Hager was a #1 New York Times bestseller in 2016.
Little Ree written by The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond reached #4 on the NY Times bestselling list in 2017.

3 Fun Facts

1. I love to make all kinds of art, including pottery, sculpture,and mosaics, as well as painting and drawing.
2. Monsters are my favorite things to draw.
3. Ramona and Beezus are exactly like my daughters.

Go to Top