Frank L. Cole
Frank L. Cole was born into a family of Southern
storytellers and wrote his first book at age eight. Sadly, he misplaced
the manuscript and has since forgotten what he wrote. Highly
superstitious and gullible to a fault, Frank will believe in any creepy
story you tell him, especially ones involving ghosts and Bigfoot.
Currently, along with his wife and three children, he resides in the
shadow of a majestic western mountain range, which is most likely
haunted.
www.franklcole.com
Cheri Earl
Cheri graduated with her M.A. in
Creative Writing from Brigham Young University in 1995 and has taught
writing and literature courses for the BYU Honors Program and Creative
Writing Program for the past 16 years; she was awarded BYU Honors
Professor of the Year in 2005. She recently published a non-fiction
children’s book for American Girl co-authored with Rick Walton, but in
real life she writes young adult novels; she won the Utah Original
Writing Competition in 1994 for the YA novel, Flat Like Me, and took
Honorable Mention in 1997 for the YA novel, The Swan. Cheri has been a
co-organizer of the annual BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young
Readers Workshop since 2004.
Guy Francis
Guy Francis lives in Provo, Utah with his wife Lorien, and four children. He studied illustration at Brigham Young University. For the past ten years he has done a variety of work, including editorial illustration, children’s books, and animation. His most recent book is Mary Had a Little Ham by Margie Palatini. He spends most of his time drawing, painting, and drawing some more. Every now and then he gets out of the house and heads to the mountains with family.
www.guyfrancis.com
Jessica Day George
All I've wanted to do all my life is sit and read. Eventually, about age 11, I started to write my own stories. I did manage to graduate from high school and then BYU, in Humanities/Comparative Literature with a minor in Scandinavian Studies. I've lived in three Idaho towns, Delaware, and New Jersey, in addition to three different places in Salt Lake Valley. I can speak Norwegian and German, read Old Norse, knit my own socks, play the viola and the piano, and spend hours lying down reading or watching TV. In 2007 my genius was realized when my first book, DRAGON SLIPPERS came out from Bloomsbury USA..
www.jessicadaygeorge.com
Nathan Hale
Nathan
Hale is an award winning children's book illustrator and author with a
background in scientific and natural history illustration. Nathan has
worked in natural history museum display, painting scientific murals for
museums around the U.S. He studied illustration at Cornish College of
the Arts in Seattle. He divides his time between picture books, natural
history/educational illustration and graphic novels.
spacestationnathan.com
Shannon Hale
Shannon Hale started writing books at age ten and never stopped, eventually earning an MFA in Creative Writing. After nineteen years of writing and dozens of rejections, she published her first book, The Goose Girl, an ALA Teens’ Top Ten. Enna Burning and River Secrets are companion books to Goose. Her stand alone novels include Book of a Thousand Days, a CYBILS award winner, and Princess Academy, a Newbery Honor Book and New York Times best seller. She and her husband are co-writing a series of graphic novles for kids, beginning with Rapunzel's Revenge (2008). They reside in Salt Lake City with their toddler son, baby daughter, and their pet, a small, plastic pig.
www.shannonhale.com
Mike Knudson
Mike Knudson is the author of the humorous RAYMOND AND GRAHAM series of books for middle grade readers. He lives in North Salt Lake with his wife, Annette, five children, a turtle and a hamster. Mike writes full-time and visits over one hundred elementary schools each year around the country. When not writing, you can find him coaching little league, swimming with his kids, and annoying his family with his banjo playing.
www.mikeknudson.com
Kim Williams Justesen
Kim Williams Justesen was born and raised in the Salt Lake valley in Utah. She is married to the man of her dreams and is mother to three of the greatest kids on the planet, along with one funny dog, and one mean cat. After 12 years in public relations and advertising, Kim left the corporate world to pursue her dream of being a writer. Since 1996 she has taught creative writing and writing for children through the University of Utah's Life Long Learning program, and through workshops, conferences and in public schools. She has served in the past as the regional advisor for the Utah/So. Idaho chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. In 2003 she earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College.
Jennifer Nielsen
Jennifer Nielsen lives on the edge of a mountain in Northern Utah with her husband, three children, and a dog that won't play fetch. She enjoys old books, rainy days, and hot chocolate, preferably all at once.
www.jennielsen.com
Carol Lynch Williams
Carol Lynch Williams is the award-winning author of nearly 20 middle grade and young adult novels. Her books have been on several states' reading lists. She has been speaking about writing, editing writing and writing for more than ten years. Carol is a member of SCBWI, a conference organizer and lover of homemade eggrolls.
www.carollynchwilliams.com
