Amanda Cockrell is the author of Coyote Weather, a novel of “new adults” finding their way through the turbulence of the Vietnam War era; Pomegranate Seed, a novel of the Hollywood blacklist; and the young adult novel What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay. As Damion Hunter she is the author of eight novels of Roman myth […]

Cristina Rhodes, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of English at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses on academic writing and ethnic literature. As a Latina and a scholar, much of her research centers on Latinx childhoods from multiple, intersecting perspectives. She studies children’s literature, film/television, ephemera, and other materials that engage Latinx youth and […]

Olivia Stephens is a graphic novelist, illustrator, and writer from the Pacific Northwest. She earned her B.F.A. in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2017. Stephens has created work for a number of sites and publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction. Stephens was a 2019-20 Literary Fellow […]

Lesléa (pronounced “Lez-LEE-uh”) Newman has created 80 books for readers of all ages, including the teen novel-in-verse October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard. Recent picture books include The Babka Sisters, The Fairest in the Land, I Can Be….ME!, Sparkle Boy, and Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story. Her classic story Heather Has Two Mommies, the first children’s book to portray lesbian families in […]

After earning her M.A. in English, Frances Gilbert’s first job in publishing was as a book club editor at Scholastic Canada in Toronto. She moved to New York in 2000 to set up a children’s editorial division at Sterling Publishing, where she stayed until 2012. Gilbert then moved to Random House Children’s Books, where she […]

Rebekah Lowell is an author-illustrator and surface pattern designer with a passion for the natural world. As a survivor of domestic abuse, she’s found the natural world to be a peaceful healing ground. Her debut novel in verse, The Road to After, offers a story of healing from trauma, and her debut picture book, Catching Flight, provides hope […]

Chad W. Beckerman brings over 20 years of illustration and design experience to the CAT Agency. After studying illustration as an undergrad at RISD, Beckerman went on to be a designer at Scholastic, a senior designer at Greenwillow Books, and then became the creative director at ABRAMS Kids and Comic Arts, where he spent 13 years […]