Justina Ireland enjoys dark chocolate, dark humor, and is not too proud to admit that she's still afraid of the dark. She is the author of
Dread Nation (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins), a
New York Times bestseller as well as the sequel
Deathless Divide. Her earlier works include the fantasy young adult novels
Vengeance Bound and
Promise of Shadows (both Simon and Schuster). Justina also writes for the
Star Wars franchise, including the books
Lando's Luck,
Spark of the Resistance, and the upcoming
A Test of Courage, part of the
High Republic publishing initiative. She is the former co-editor in chief of FIYAH Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, for which she won a World Fantasy Award. She holds a BA from Armstrong Atlantic University and an MFA from Hamline University.
Tessa Gratton is the author of adult and YA SFF novels and short stories that have been translated into twenty-two languages, nominated twice for the Otherwise Award, and several have been Junior Library Guild Selections. Her most recent novels are the dark queer fairy tales
Strange Grace and
Night Shine, and queer the Shakespeare retelling
Lady Hotspur. Her upcoming work includes the YA fantasy
Chaos and Flame (2023), and novels of
Star Wars: The High Republic. Though she has lived all over the world, she currently resides at the edge of the Kansas prairie with her wife. Queer, nonbinary, she/any.