Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, MSEd, is a former English teacher who has educated children and teens for fifteen years. As an inaugural AMAL fellow with the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC), she developed foundational curricular frameworks for youth and adult anti-racist programming. Her picture books and short stories, which feature young Black and Muslim protagonists, have been recognized as the best in children's literature by Time magazine, Read Across America, and NPR. These works include Salat in Secret, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year and a Golden Kite Award Honor recipient; Abdul's Story; Hold Them Close; Mommy's Khimar, Once Upon an Eid (anthology contributor), and Your Name Is a Song.

Raissa Figueroa is the illustrator of several picture books, including Real to Me, We Wait for the Sun, which received a Coretta Scott King Honor as well as four starred reviews. She also illustrated Oona, Princess Unlimited, Sophie and the Little Star, and The More the Merrier.