Gene Luen Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 1997, he received the Xeric Grant, a prestigious comics industry grant, for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks, his first comics work as an adult. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan's Kingdom (with art by Derek Kirk Kim) and The Rosary Comic Book (Pauline Books & Media).

His graphic novel American Born Chinese became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award. He recently collaborated on a second book with Derek Kirk Kim, The Eternal Smile, a collection of three stories which explore the ways that the world of imagination can affect real life. In addition to cartooning, Gene teaches computer science at a Catholic high school in Oakland, California. He resides in Fremont with his wife and two children. read more <<

DIANA R. JENKINS has written more than four hundred stories, comic strips, and articles for children and teens as well as three books of children’s plays. She lives in Montgomery, Ohio, with her husband, a medical physicist. She earned her bachelors degree in special education from Ball State University and a reading specialist master’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. After twenty-plus years as a special education teacher, she became a freelance writer. Diana is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Besides being one of the largest organizations for writers and illustrators, it is the only professional group specifically for those individuals working in the fields of children’s literature, magazines, film, television, and multimedia. read more <<