Charlie Mylie
An artist, illustrator, and children’s book author, Mylie debuted his first picture book, Something For You, in 2019, following the lives of two mice and the importance of friendship. He released a follow-up, Anything With You, the next year and has a new book, Hello Day, forthcoming in 2024.
Phong Nguyen
Nguyen writes historical fiction, experimental fiction, alternate history, spinoffs, dirty realism, and more. He has called Missouri home for the last 15 years, teaching fiction at the University of Missouri. His new book, Bronze Drum, is available now.
Desideria Mesa
Mesa’s debut novel, Bindle Punk Bruja, was named one of the best fall releases last year by The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Writer’s Digest, and many more. The magical historical fantasy was inspired by an ancient Mexican folktale and is set in the Golden Twenties.
Maryfrances Wagner
The current Poet Laureate of Missouri, Wagner has written seven collections of poetry. Her newest book, The Immigrants’ New Camera: A Family Collection, follows the experience of an Italian-American family.
Colter Jackson
Previously working as an advertiser, creative director, and speechwriter, Jackson released her children’s book Elephants Make Fine Friends in 2015. A new children’s book also written and illustrated by Colter, The Rhino Suit, was released early last year.
Candice Millard
Millard’s books cover a wide range of historical events. Her works, The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic, were New York Times bestsellers, as is her most recent book, River of the Gods, which covers the exploration of the Nile.
Elizabeth C. Bunce
Known for fantastical, magical, and ghostly stories for young readers (and discerning adults), Bunce’s Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series is beloved. Her most recent installment, Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity, was released this year.
Mia Mercado
Mercado is a cultural essayist and critic. She dissects exactly what it means to be “nice,” “polite,” and “agreeable” in her collection of new essays, She’s Nice Though, while also pondering her identity as an Asian woman and wondering what “nice” even means.
Adib Khorram
Born and raised in Kansas City, MO, Khorram is a queer Iranian-American author who writes books for young and adult readers. His debut, Darius the Great is Not Okay, was released in 2018. His debut adult series will publish in 2024, 2025, and 2026, and is billed as “a modern, BIPOC- and queer-centered Sex in the City.”
Christie Hodgen
Editor-in-chief of the literary magazine New Letters, Hodgen has also published three novels and many short stories. Her most recent novel, Boy Meets Girl, was released last year and follows a 25-year friendship between two characters drawn to, and torn apart by, their differences.
Sarah Henning
A previous journalist for Associated Press and The Kansas City Star, Sarah Henning now writes books for young adults. Her most recent, Monster Camp, described as Ghost Squad meets Hotel Transylvania, is a fish-out-of-water story set in a summer camp full of monsters.