Authors

Aneesa Abbas Higgins has translated books by Vénus Khoury-Ghata, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Ali Zamir, and Nina Bouraoui. Seven Stones by Vénus Khoury-Ghata won the Scott Moncrieff Prize, and both A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir and What Became of the White Savage by François Garde won PEN Translates awards. Her latest translation, Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, won the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Khadija Abdalla Bajaber is a Mombasarian writer of Hadrami descent and the inaugural Graywolf Press Africa Prize winner. Her work has appeared in Enkare Review, Lolwe, and Down River Road, among other places. The House of Rust: A Novel (Graywolf Press) is a magical realist coming-of-age tale told through the lens of the Swahili and diasporic Hadrami culture in Mombasa, Kenya. When her fisherman father goes missing, Aisha takes to the sea on a magical boat made of a skeleton to rescue him. She is guided by a talking scholar’s cat – and soon, crows, goats, and other animals all have their say, too. On her journey, Aisha meets terrifying sea monsters, and after surviving a confrontation with Baba wa Papa, the father of all sharks, she rescues her father. Still, rather than life returning to normal, at home, things only grow stranger. Kirkus called it “a novel of tradition, ritual, and mystical adventure. … [a] tale rife with creatures and immersed in the Hadrami culture of Kenya.”

For the past 10 years, Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson have developed numerous animated campaigns, network TV and web series, and commercial work. They have set up properties at Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, and Nickelodeon and a feature animated film through Paramount Pictures. Abdo and Patterson have developed original content for a wide variety of platforms, including print (Nickelodeon Comics, The New Yorker), theater (Pilobolus), and digital. In their graphic novel, Barb the Last Berzerker (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), Barb is one of the warriors sworn to protect the land of Bailiwick from the scourge of monsters that plagues it. But the evil Witch Head, using power from his magical sword, has tricked the Zerks and took them captive. Only Barb was able to escape – and she took the Shadow Blade with her. Now it’s up to her to free her fellow warriors so they can stop Witch Head from taking over Bailiwick. On the way, she’ll battle vampire goat fiends, snot goblins, and a giant with serious foot odor issues (which he’s very sensitive about). Luckily, she’s got her best friend, Porkchop the yeti, to help her. But the power of the Shadow Blade has a mind of its own, and it’s getting harder to keep it under control.

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic. Recently named a MacArthur fellow, his poetry has been published in PEN America, Muzzle, Vinyl, and other journals, and his essays and criticism pieces have been published in The New Yorker, Pitchfork, The New York Times, and Fader. Abdurraqib’s work also includes full-length poetry collections The Crown Ain’t Worth Much and A Fortune for Your Disaster, and The New York Times bestseller Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest, which was longlisted for the National Book Award. Riffing off a few words in a speech made by Josephine Baker at the March on Washington in 1963 (“I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too.”), Abdurraqib examines how Black performance is woven into the fabric of American culture. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance (Random House), explores the 27 seconds of Merry Clayton wailing “rape, murder” in the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” a schoolyard fistfight, and the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt. Each moment adds layers of resonance in Black and white cultures, American politics, and Abdurraqib’s own personal history. “Social criticism, pop culture, and autobiography come together neatly in these pages,” noted Kirkus, “and every sentence is sharp, provocative, and self-aware.”

  Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is a writer from South London who has dreamed of writing books about Black kids saving (or destroying) the world all her life. In the young adult thriller Ace of Spades (Feiwel & Friends) – her debut novel – classmates Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo have just been selected to be part of their elite private academy’s senior class prefects. It’s great news for their plans for the future, but soon after the announcement someone calling themself “Aces” begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about Devon and Chiamaka that turn their lives upside down – and threatens all their aspirations. Both students are at different stages of their queer identity. Devon, a musician, can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Chiamaka, a rich, popular girl, isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid to get it. Aces shows no sign of stopping, and what seemed like a sick prank at first quickly turns into a dangerous game. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop what’s happening before things become incredibly deadly? Publishers Weekly noted that “Àbíké-Íyímídé excels in portraying the conflict of characters who exist in two worlds … Devon and Chiamaka are dynamic and multifaceted, deeply human in the face of Aces’ treatment.”

Keshia Abraham, founder and president of The Abraham Consulting Agency, is an African diaspora scholar and J.E.D.I (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) educator committed to facilitating personal and organizational development through intercultural growth. She is a bridge-builder who believes in the transformative power of international education and the long-term impact it has, hence her unwavering commitment to global learning, especially at HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities).

Diana Abu-Jaber is the author of the forthcoming Fencing With the King: A Novel (‎W. W. Norton & Company), as well as Life Without A Recipe: A Memoir – described as “a book of love, death, and cake” – Birds Of Paradise: A Novel, Origin: A Novel, Crescent: A Novel, and Arabian Jazz: A Novel. She was born in Syracuse, New York, to an American mother and a Jordanian father. Her family moved to Jordan several times throughout her childhood, and elements of both her American and Jordanian experiences as well as cross-cultural issues, especially culinary reflections, appear in her work.

Chantel Acevedo is the chair of the creative writing department in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami, and the author of Love and Ghost Letters: A Novel, A Falling Star: A Novel, The Distant Marvels: A Novel, and The Living Infinite: A Novel, hailed by Booklist as a “vivid and enthralling tale of love and redemption.” Muse Squad: The Cassandra Curse was her debut middle-grade novel; Muse Squad: The Mystery of the Tenth (Balzer + Bray) is its sequel and the finale of the duology. Here we find that Callie Martinez-Silva, the young Cuban American girl who discovered she’s one of the nine muses of Greek mythology, is finally getting the hang of this whole “goddess within” thing. Six months have passed, and she and the other junior muses are ready for new adventures. But first, Callie must go to New York City for the summer to visit her dad, stepmom, and new baby brother. Then the muses get startling news: An unprecedented tenth muse has woken up somewhere in Queens! Now Callie and her friends have to choose: Follow orders and find the tenth muse or trust that sometimes fate has other plans? School Library Journal found that “this riveting, suspenseful book presents a unique blend of Greek mythology and Cuban culture. … Perfect for readers of mythology-based adventures, fantasy fans, and anyone who enjoys a suspenseful action book.”

Elliot Ackerman’s books include Dark at the Crossing: A Novel and the memoir Places and Names: On War, Revolution and Returning. A former White House Fellow and Marine, he served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. In 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (Penguin Press), co-written with retired Admiral Jim Stavridis, U.S. Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of the guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine patrol in the South China Sea. On the same day, U.S. Marine aviator Major Chris “Wedge” Mitchell is testing new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By nightfall, he will be a prisoner, Hunt’s ship will lie at the bottom of the sea, and the coordinated cyber weaponry of Iran and China will have rendered U.S. ships and planes defenseless. In the end, both China and the U.S. will pay a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power. The Washington Post said this “crisply written and well-paced book reads like an all-caps warning for a world shackled to the machines we carry in our pockets and place on our laps, while only vaguely understanding how the information stored in and shared by those devices can be exploited …”

Veronica Agarwal is a cartoonist and illustrator. Just Roll With It is her debut graphic novel, with writer Lee Durfey-Lavoie. The book follows Maggie, who’s desperately hoping to get through her first year of middle school with a minimum of stress. But between finding the best after-school clubs, trying to make friends, and avoiding the rumored monster on school grounds, she’s having a tough time. So she turns for help from her 20-sided dice. But what happens if Maggie rolls the wrong number? A touching middle-grade tale, Just Roll With It explores the complexity of anxiety, OCD, and learning to trust yourself and the world around you. Gale Galligan, adaptor and illustrator of the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel series, praised it as a “charming, compassionate story that’s sure to resonate with anyone who’s ever stayed up worrying.”