Gail Griffin was born in Detroit and raised in its suburbs and in Ann Arbor, where she reveled in literature and rock music. One of her proudest claims to fame is having seen the Beatles in concert in Detroit in 1964. She went away to school and came back to take a teaching position at Kalamazoo College, where she taught literature, writing, and women's studies for 36 years. There she won awards fo teaching and for creative/scholarly work, and she was chosen Michigan Professor of the Year in ...

Cesar Brioso is a digital producer and former baseball editor for USA Today Sports. Aside from Havana Hardball, he is the author Last Seasons in Havana: The Castro Revolution and the End of Professional Baseball in Cuba, winner of the 2020 SABR Baseball Research Award.Follow 5AQ on Instagram - @fiveauthorquestions Email 5AQ - [email protected] 5AQ is produced by Jarrod Wilson. The technical producer is Brian Bankston. 5AQ is hosted by Sandra Farag and Kevin King

Natalie Standiford was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, and studied Russian language and literature at Brown University and in the former Soviet Union. She has written many books for children and teens, including How to Say Goodbye in Robot; The Secret Tree; and Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters. Her book reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She lives with her husband in New York City, where she occasionally...

Jerry Craft is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the graphic novels New Kid and Class Act. New Kid was the winner of the 2020 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature. In addition, New Kid was awarded the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature. He is also the recipient of the Coretta Scott King Author Award for the most outstanding work by an African American writer. For all things Jerry, please visit - www.jerrycraft.com.Pur...

David Levithan is the author and co-author of over twenty books including the critically acclaimed and bestselling, Boy Meets Boy, Every Day, Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist, and Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (now a Netflix Series). In 2016, David won ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. David is also the only author who was picketed by an angry mob of three while visiting KPL. His newest book, The Mysterious Disappearan...

Jacqueline Woodson is the author of more than two dozen award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, children, and now adults. Woodson was the 2020 recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award and is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Among her many other accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a three-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. She was named Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation in 2015 and was also named ...