Carole Boston Weatherford

Carole Boston Weatherford is a two-time NAACP Image Award winner and the author of Standing in the Need of Prayer (Crown BFYR, 2022) and The Faith of Elijah Cummings (RH Studio, Spring '22). She is also the author of Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, which won the Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards, a Caldecott Honor, and a Sibert Honor; the Newbery Honor book Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom; and the Caldecott Honor books Freedom in Congo Square, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Born in Baltimore, Weatherford now teaches at Fayetteville State University, in North Carolina.

Ashley Evans loves creating colorful, fun, and dynamic illustrations. Born and raised in Queens, she now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her boyfriend and their daughter. Ashley is the illustrator of Gabrielle Union's Welcome to the Party, Alphabet Rockers's You Are Not Alone, and Sing, Aretha, Sing! by Hanif Abdurraqib. When she's not creating art you can find her decorating cakes, enjoying her family, or catching a much needed nap!