Shards and Ashes

Melissa Marr writes fiction for adults, teens, and children. Her books have been translated into twenty-eight languages and been bestsellers in the US (NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal) as well as overseas. Wicked Lovely, her debut novel, was an instant New York Times bestseller and evolved into an internationally bestselling multibook series. Over the last two decades, she's also published middle grade (The Hidden Knife), adult fiction (Graveminder), picture books (Bunny Roo, I Love You), and comics (The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley). If she's not writing, you can probably find her in a kayak or on a trail with her wife.

When librarians finally granted Kelley Armstrong an adult card, she made straight for the epic fantasy and horror shelves. She spent the rest of her childhood and teen years happily roaming fantastical and terrible worlds, and vowed that someday she'd write a story combining swords, sorcery, and the ravenous undead. That story began with the New York Times bestselling Sea of Shadows and continues with Empire of Night.

Armstrong's first works for teens were the New York Times bestselling Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising trilogies. She lives in rural Ontario with her husband, three children, and far too many pets.

VERONICA ROTH is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Divergent series (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four: A Divergent Collection) and the Carve the Mark duology (Carve the Mark, The Fates Divide). Divergent received the 2011 Goodreads Choice Award for Favorite Book, Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of 2011, and was the winner of the YALSA 2012 Teens’ Top Ten. The trilogy has been adapted into a blockbuster movie series starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James. Carve the Mark published in January 2017, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and remained on the list for eighteen weeks. The Fates Divide, the second installment of the Carve the Mark series, also debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Though she was born in Mount Kisco, New York, Veronica’s family moved to Hong Kong and Germany before settling in Barrington, Illinois. In elementary school, Veronica read constantly, but it wasn’t until she got a “make your own book!” kit from her mother as a gift that she thought to write anything of her own. From that time on, she knew she would write for the rest of her life, whether she was published or not. She wrote the manuscript that would become Divergent in her free time while attending Northwestern University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English Literature with Creative Writing in 2010.

She is a board member of YALLFest, the biggest YA book festival in the country, and YALLWEST, its sister festival. She currently lives in Chicago with her husband and their dog, Avi, whose adorable existence is well-documented on Instagram.
 

Margaret Stohl is the bestselling author of twelve books for children and teens, including coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestselling Beautiful Creatures series. She also cowrites Mighty Captain Marvel for Marvel Comics. You can learn more about her at mstohl.com.

Rachel Caine is the coauthor of the Honors series and has written more than fifty novels in multiple genres, including young adult, thriller, science fiction/fantasy, horror, and paranormal romance. She is best known for the #1 internationally bestselling fifteen-book Morganville Vampires series and her Weather Warden series in urban fantasy. She lives and works in Fort Worth, Texas, with her husband, artist, actor, and comic historian R. Cat Conrad. www.rachelcaine.com

Nancy Holder is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of over 80 novels and 200 short stories. She has received 5 Bram Stoker Awards from the horror writers Horror Writers Association, and a Scribe Award from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. She is the former Vice President of the Horror Writers Association and currently serves on the board of trustees. Her Buffy novel, The Angel Chronicles, hit number 2 on the amazon bestseller list. She has written or co-written over 4 dozen Buffy and Angel projects. She divides her time between Washington state and Italy.