Amanda Gorman is the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history. She is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hill We Climb, Call Us What We Carry, and the children's picture book Change Sings, illustrated by Loren Long. Amanda is a committed advocate for the environment, racial equality, and gender justice. In a groundbreaking collaboration with the Estée Lauder Companies as a Global Changemaker, she established the "Writing Change" initiative to support grassroots organizations dedicated to advancing literacy as a pathway to social change. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University and now lives in her hometown of Los Angeles. Her latest book, Something, Someday, was published on September 26. Please visit her at TheAmandaGorman.com or on Instagram @AmandaSCGorman.

Christian Robinson received a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award for his art in Last Stop on Market Street, written by Matt de la Peña. He is the author and illustrator of the picture books Another and You Matter, and he has illustrated many more, including Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd and The Bench by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. He lives in Oakland. Please visit him at TheArtOfFun.com or on Instagram @TheArtOfFun.

Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of books for young readers. Her books have sold more than one million copies. Her young adult novel Piecing Me Together received a Coretta Scott King Award and Newbery Honor. Her children’s picture books and novels for teens have received several awards and international recognition. Many of her books are inspired by her experiences growing up as a Black girl in the Pacific Northwest. Her poetry and fiction center on the experiences of Black girls and explore themes of home, identity, body image, and the intersections of race, class, and gender. She has given readings and lectures at the United Nations, the Library of Congress, and the U.S. Embassy in Japan and New Zealand. One of Renée’s passions is using the arts to help youth cope with trauma and discuss social issues. Her picture book A Place Where Hurricanes Happen is based on poetry workshops she facilitated with children in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Renée was a writer-in-residence for more than twenty years, teaching creative writing and theater in public schools and community centers throughout the nation. She founded I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit that was housed in the Harlem brownstone where Langston Hughes lived the last twenty years of his life. The organization hosted poetry workshops for youth and literary events for the community from 2016–2019. Watson is on the Council of Writers for the National Writing Project and is a member of the Academy of American Poets’ Education Advisory Council. She is also a writer-in-residence at The Solstice Low-Residency MFA Creative Writing Program.