The AABB National Team Leaders

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Samira Ahmed is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels for young people including Love Hate & Other Filters, Internment, Hollow Fires, This Book Won’t Burn and a Ms. Marvel comic book mini-series. Her poetry, essays, and short stories have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Take the Mic, Color Outside the Lines, Vampires Never Get Old, and a Universe of Wishes. A graduate of the University of Chicago, has taught high school English, worked in education non-profits and spent time on the road for political campaigns. She lives in Chicago and when she’s not reading or writing, she can be found on her lifelong quest for the perfect pastry.
Dhonielle Clayton is a New York Times bestselling author of The Conjureverse series, The Belles series, Shattered Midnight, co-author of Blackout, Whiteout, The Rumor Game, and of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series. She hails from the Washington, D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side. She taught secondary school for several years, and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is Board Chair of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. She is the President and founder of Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment, IP story companies creating diverse books for all ages. She’s an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief.
Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman (she/her/hers) has written several bestselling novels for children and young adults including the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than forty languages and was adapted into a major motion picture. Her first middle grade novel, Frankie & Bug, was a New York Times best children’s book of the year. Her second middle grade novel Not Nothing has been hailed as a “masterpiece” and the “book we all need at the time we all need it.” After Life, her 13th published novel, comes out in January of 2025. A former journalist, Gayle’s work has appeared in The New York Times, People, Elle, Time, Seventeen and more. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.
Alan Gratz is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of a number of novels for young readers, including Prisoner B-3087, Refugee, Ban This Book, Allies, Ground Zero, Two Degrees, Captain America: The Ghost Army, and Heroes. A Knoxville, Tennessee native, Alan and his family now live in Portland, Oregon. Visit him online at www.alangratz.com.
www.alangratz.com
Joanna Ho is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of many books for kids. She has received the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature Honor, a Golden Kite Award, an Ezra Jack Keats Honor, and been finalist for the Kirkus Prize. She is a writer and educator with a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism and equity work. She holds a BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s from the Principal Leadership Institute at Berkeley. She has been an English teacher, a dean, the designer of an alternative-to-prison program, a creator of educator professional development, and a high school vice principal. She lives in the Bay Area, where she survives on homemade chocolate chip cookies, outdoor adventures, and dance parties with her kids. Keep your eyes open for more books to come!
Adib Khorram is a queer Iranian-American author of books for readers of all ages. His works have won numerous awards and accolades, including the William C. Morris and APALA Awards (Darius the Great Is Not Okay), a Stonewall Honor (Darius the Great Deserves Better), and been a USA Today Bestseller (I’LL HAVE WHAT HE’S HAVING). He is a MacDowell Fellow and has served on the Advisory Board for the James Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction. He joined the National Leadership of Authors Against Book Bans in 2024.
Maris Kreizman is an essayist and critic whose work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, and Esquire. She’s a columnist for Lit Hub. She hosted The Maris Review, an intimate author interview podcast, from 2018-2023. A former board member of the National Book Critics Circle, she has served as a judge for the annual NBCC awards as well as the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award. She’s the creator of Slaughterhouse 90210, a blog and book (Flatiron Books, 2015) that celebrates the intersection of literature and pop culture. She was previously the editorial director of Book of the Month, the editorial director of digital content at B&N.com, and a publishing outreach lead at Kickstarter. Her forthcoming essay collection is called I Want To Burn This Place Down.
About Sarah MacLean New York Times, Washington Post & USA Today bestseller Sarah MacLean wrote her first novel on a dare and never looked back. Translated into more than twenty-five languages, the books that make up “The MacLeaniverse” are beloved by readers worldwide. In addition to her novels, Sarah is a leading advocate for the romance genre, speaking widely on its place as a feminist text and a cultural bellwether. A former columnist for the New York Times, the Washington Post and Bustle, she is a founding board member of Authors Against Book Bans and the co-host of the weekly romance podcast, Fated Mates. Sarah now lives in New York City.
Maggie Tokuda-Hall www.prettyokmaggie.com Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in creative writing from USF, and BA in art from Scripps College. She’s the author of numerous award winning, best-selling children’s and young adult books including Love in the Library, The Mermaid the Witch and The Sea, Squad, and The Worst Ronin. She has been called “... one of the most unflinching voices in contemporary genre literature.” Maggie is a founding member and national leader of Authors Against Book Bans. She is the co-host of the Failure to Adapt podcast. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband, children, and objectively perfect dog.
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