Deborah Wiles is the author of the picture book Freedom Summer and the novels: Love, Ruby Lavender; The Aurora County All-Stars; Each Little Bird That Sings, a National Book Award finalist; and A Long Line of Cakes. She is also the author of the documentary novels Countdown; Revolution, a National Book Award Finalist; and Anthem. She has vivid memories of ducking and covering under her school desk during air raid drills at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. She also sang in the Glee Club, was a champion speller, and hated Field Day. Deborah lives in Atlanta, Georgia. You can visit her on the web at deborahwiles.com.
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is a Black/Iranian visual artist and Oklahoma City native. She is a painter whose work ranges from the gallery to the streets, using visual art to address the daily oppressive experiences of marginalized people through beautifully drawn and painted portraits. Her street art series, "Stop Telling Women to Smile," addressing sexual harassment in public spaces, can be found on walls across the globe. In 2019, she was the inaugural Public Artist in Residence for the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Fazlalizadeh has been profiled by the New York Times, NPR, MSNBC, the New Yorker, and Time Magazine. She has lectured at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Brooklyn Museum, New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, and several universities including Stanford, Brown, USC, and Pratt Institute. Fazlalizadeh's work can be seen on Spike Lee's Netflix series, She's Gotta Have It, for which she is also served as the show's art consultant. In 2020, Tatyana's debut book Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We're Taking Back Our Power released from Seal Press. She is based in Brooklyn, NY.