Irene Latham's passion for poetry started as soon as she could read and write, with Shel Silverstein and love poems crafted for her mother. Named Alabama State Poetry Society 2006 Poet of the Year, Irene has published poems for adults and children in anthologies, journals, and literary magazines.

She is also the author of two award-winning novels for children: Leaving Gee's Bend and Don't Feed the Boy. Her collections of children's poetry include Dear Wandering Wildebeest, When the Sun Shines on Antarctica and Fresh Delicious. She lives with her husband and three sons in Birmingham, Alabama.

Charles Waters grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and currently works as a poet and actor.

His poems for children have appeared in anthologies including One Minute Till Bedtime, and The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry.

Charles conducts poetry performance workshops for elementary and middle school audiences across the nation, and he has performed in more than thirty states. He makes his home in New York City.

Sean Qualls is an award winning, Brooklyn-based children's book illustrator, artist, and author. He has illustrated a number of celebrated books for children, including, Giant Steps to Change the World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis-Lee, Little Cloud and Lady Wind by Toni and Slade Morrison, and Before Jon was a Jazz Giant, for which he received a Coretta Scott King Illustration Honour.

His work has received two Blue Ribbon citations from the Bulletin of the Centre for Children's Books, where he was also cited for his "serious craftsmanship" and "original stlye". He lives in Brooklyn (where you can find him DJing on occasion) with his wife, illustrator/author Selina Alko and their two children, Ginger and Isaiah.

Selina Alko was born in Vancouver, British Colombia. Growing up in a house with a Turkish father who spoke seven languages exposed Selina to many different sounds from a young age.

Her father also taught her how to paint and gave her a starter course in self-expression. Her mother's involvement in the family's century-old metal recycling business yielded Alko's affinity for collage and mixing media ("trash art") in her work today. Selina's picture books include the highly acclaimed B is for Brooklyn.

Recently, Selina has embarked on a new chapter in her career: collaborated with her husband, the award-winning illustrator Sean Qualls, Selina wrote The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage which she co-illustrated with Sean.

Their second illustrated book, Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Fredrick Douglass (by Dean Robbins) came out in January 2016.