Eleanor Roosevelt
Award for Bravery
in Literature

Judy Blume

Lifetime Acheivement
Judy Blume’s twenty-five books for young readers include Forever, Deenie and Tiger Eyes and her four best-selling novels for adults – Wifey, Smart Women, Summer Sisters and In the Unlikely Event – have sold more than 90 million copies in over forty languages. She has been named a Literary Legend by the Library of Congress and received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. The American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded her the E.B. White Award for lifetime achievement in children’s literature in 2017.

Laurie Halse Anderson

SHOUT
Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author whose writing spans young readers, teens, and adults. Her 2019 memoir-in-verse, SHOUT, about surviving sexual assault at the age of thirteen and a manifesta for the #MeToo era, has received widespread critical acclaim and is Laurie’s eighth New York Times bestselling book. SHOUT was named a Best Book of the Year by TIME and NPR, among others. Her titles also include the groundbreaking National Book Award finalist and Printz Honor Book Speak as well as the critically acclaimed novels Wintergirls, The Impossible Knife of Memory, Fever 1793, and Chains. In 2023, she was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is given annually to a person or organization for their outstanding contribution to children’s and young adult literature. Anderson has also received both the Margaret Edwards Award and the ALAN Award for her contributions to young adult literature. Additionally, she has been honored by the National Coalition Against Censorship in recognition of her fight to combat the censoring of literature.

Mike Curato

Flamer
Mike Curato is an award-winning author/artist for children and adults. His debut title, Little Elliot, Big City, released in 2014, has won several awards, and has been translated into over ten languages. There are now five books in the Little Elliot series. Mike was the illustrator of What If… by Samantha Berger, All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle, Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian, The Power of One written by Trudy Ludwig, as well as If I Were a Fish, by Corook and Olivia Barton. Publishers Weekly named Mike a “Fall 2014 Flying Start.” In the same year he won the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Founder’s Award. Mike’s debut young adult graphic novel, Flamer, was awarded the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Young Adults and the 2021 Massachusetts Book Award for Middle Grade/Young Adults. In 2023, Flamer was one of the most banned and challenged books of the year.

Mike lives and works in Western Massachusetts, where he is at work on Gaysians, a graphic novel for adults. 

Alex Gino

Melissa
Alex Gino writes queer and progressive middle grade novels, including the Stonewall and Lambda Award-winning Melissa. They love glitter, ice cream, gardening, wordplay, and stories that reflect the complexity of being alive, and they would take a quiet coffee date with a friend over a loud and crowded party any day. Alex grew up on Staten Island, NY, where they started telling stories before they could hold a pencil. After thirteen years in Oakland, California, they now live in Western Massachusetts with Thunder the Wonder Cat. They are excited to continue to write stories for and about young LGBTQIA+ people. At least, that’s the plan. Writing is hard.

George M. Johnson

All Boys Aren’t Blue
George M. Johnson (they/them) is an Emmy nominated, award-winning, and bestselling Black nonbinary author and activist. They have written on race, gender, sex, and culture for Essence, the Advocate, BuzzFeed News, Teen Vogue, and more than forty other national publications. George has appeared on BuzzFeed’s AM2DM as well as on MSNBC. They are also a proud HBCU alum twice over and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Their debut memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue, was a New York Times bestseller and garnered many accolades. It was the second-most banned book of 2022 in the United States, according to the American Library Association. For their work fighting book bans and challenges, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) honored George with its Free Speech Defender Award, and TIME Magazine named them one of the “100 Next Most Influential People in the World.” While writing their memoir, George used he/him pronouns. Originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, they now live in Los Angeles, California.

Maia Kobabe

Gender Queer
Maia Kobabe is a nonbinary, queer author and illustrator from the Bay Area, California. Eir first full length book, GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR, was published in May 2019. Maia’s short comics have been published online by The Nib and The New Yorker, and in many print anthologies including THE SECRET LOVES OF GEEKS, FASTER THAN LIGHT Y’ALL, GOTHIC TALES OF HAUNTED LOVE, ADVANCED DEATH SAVES and BE GAY, DO COMICS. Before setting out to work freelance full-time, e worked for over ten years in libraries. Eir work is heavily influenced by fairy tales, homesickness, and the search for identity.

Jelani Memory

A Kids Book About Racism
Jelani Memory (he/him) is an African American entrepreneur, thinker, and constant learner. He wrote A Kids Book About Racism for his kids and founded A Kids Co. for all kids and their grownups. This first book from a line which has grown to over 100 books was the beginning of knowing that kids are ready to talk about the important stuff of life, and that books are a magical way to open up important conversations for kids and grownups. Jelani lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and 6 kids. He still wants to be an artist when he grows up.