Jabari Asim (therealjabariasim.com) is an accomplished poet, playwright, and writer, and has been described as one of the most influential African American literary critics of his generation. Asim has served as the editor-in-chief of Crisis magazine--the NAACP's flagship journal of politics, culture, and ideas--and as an editor at The Washington Post. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts and is the author of many award-winning books for adults and children, including Preaching to the Chickens (art by E.B. Lewis), which was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. He is an Associate Professor of writing, literature, and publishing at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

AG Ford (agfordillustration.com) is a three-time New York Times bestselling children's book illustrator and recipient of two NAACP Image Awards. He has illustrated picture books by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sharon Robinson, Ilyasah Shabazz, Martin Luther King III, Nick Cannon, Jonah Winter, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He lives with his family in Frisco, Texas.