The best-selling, award-winning author of 25 books for children and young adults, Phil was born in Hull, England in 1974. As a youngster, he was passionate about sports (football, cricket, tennis, golf), comics, graphic novels and drama. After studying English and drama at Hull University, he worked as a caregiver in a children’s home, then trained as a drama therapist and worked in a community for abused adolescents. Here’s what he has said about then spending five years as a children’s bookseller: “It was the best move of my life. The books under my nose there were quite unlike […]

  Adrienne Kress is a writer and an actress born and raised in Toronto, Canada. The daughter of two high school English teachers, she credits them for her love of both writing and performing. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the UK, with a degree in drama. She lives in Toronto with her husband Scott and cat Atticus. Adrienne has authored 12 novels, including four books set in the Bendy and the Ink Machine video game universe (young adult, Scholastic, 2019-2023), her three-book The Explorers series (middle […]

  Stuart H. Brody is author of the young-adult novel Humphrey and Me (Santa Monica Press 2023), “the impassioned story of a teen who has to choose between his ethics and his political hero during the tempestuous 1960s and 1970s.” It is based loosely on Stuart’s own youthful relationship with his mentor, former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and offers an entertaining historical overview of the 1960s, an important chapter in U.S. history. Stuart teaches ethics at the University of Arizona, and is Senior Scholar at the Institute for Ethics in Public Life at the State University of New York. […]

  Kern Carter was born in Trinidad and raised in Toronto, Canada, where he lives today. A high school dropout who became a single father at the age of 18, he later graduated from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a major in English literature. Today he works both as an author and as a professional speaker and mentor to aspiring young writers. Kern has written five middle-grade and young adult novels, including two that are forthcoming: Is There a Boy Like Me (middle grade, Scholastic 2024), And Then There Was Us (young adult, Tundra/PRH 2024), Boys and Girls Screaming […]

    A graduate of Princeton University, Michael Solis holds masters’ degrees in human rights law and gender studies, which offer an understanding of social justice, equality and human rights issues that he weaves into his writing. Originally from New Jersey, USA, he has spent time in Sierra Leone, Latin America and Kenya. A passion for making a positive impact on the world led him to dedicate more than 15 years to development and humanitarian work; time in fragile and post-conflict settings deepened his understanding of the complexities and challenges faced by communities in need. Michael’s debut novel, Deficient (BHC […]