SpoYo 2015 Festival Participants
Find a reading list for 2015 SpoYo authors here
Nick Bruel
Nick Bruel is the author and illustrator of New York Times bestseller Boing! and the Bad Kitty books, among others. He is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, and during his down time, he collects PEZ dispensers and grows tomatoes in the backyard. He lives in Tarrytown, NY with his wife Carina and their lovely cat Esmerelda. Full Bio
Dan Gemeinhart
Dan Gemeinhart is a teacher-librarian in Wenatchee, Washington. His debut novel, The Honest Truth, was released in the beginning of 2015. Gemeinhart’s second book, Some Kind of Courage, will be released in January of 2016. A graduate of Gonzaga University, Gemeinhart now resides in Cashmere with his wife and three daughters. Full Bio
Katherine Pryor
Katherine Pryor is a writer and good food advocate in Seattle, Washington. Her first children’s book, Sylvia’s Spinach, is used by schools as part of plant and school garden curriculum and by parents looking for creative ways to get their picky eaters to try new foods. Her second book, Zora’s Zucchini, was published August 2015. Full Bio
Claire Rudolf Murphy
A daughter of the West, Claire is the author of sixteen award-winning fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults, including her newest, My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights. Full Bio
Natalie Kusz
Natalie Kusz is the author of the memoir Road Song, and has published essays in Harper’s, Threepenny Review, O: The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, and other periodicals. Full Bio
S.E. Grove
S. E. Grove is the author of The Glass Sentence and The Golden Specific, the first books in The Mapmaker Trilogy. She is also a historian and dedicated traveler who has spent years studying the world of maps. Her parents are from Central America and the United States, and she was raised in both places. Since then she has explored many corners of the globe, present and past. Full Bio
Sherri Duskey Rinker
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Liesl Shurtliff
Liesl Shurtliff is the author of two works of fiction, both of which offer retellings of classic children’s fairytales. Her first book, Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, earned an IRA Award and a Whitney nomination, in addition to other awards. A graduate of Brigham Young University, Shurtliff now resides in Chicago with her husband and children. Full Bio
Kris Dinnison
Kris Dinnison is the author of the young adult novel You and Me and Him, released from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in July 2015. Her fiction, nonfiction, book reviews, and other work have appeared in Spokane Shorties, Lilac City Fairy Tales, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, and elsewhere. Full Bio
Kazu Kibuishi
Kazu Kibuishi is the creator of the New York Times bestselling Amulet series. He is also the founder and editor of the comic anthology Flight and the creator of the webcomic Copper. Additionally, Kibuishi illustrated the covers of the paperback editions of Harry Potter books for the series’ 15th anniversary. Kibuishi currently resides in Bellevue, Washington, with his wife and children. Full Bio
A.L. Sonnichsen
A.L. Sonnichsen grew up in Hong Kong and spent part of her adult life in China’s fourth largest city, Tianjin. Her debut work, Red Butterfly, is a middle-grade novel in verse that tells the story of a Chinese orphan raised in solitude by an American foster mother, but left behind when her mother is repatriated. Sonnichsen currently resides in the state of Washington with her husband and five children. Full Bio
Kelly Milner Halls
Kelly Milner Halls has made her living as a nonfiction children’s writer and single mom for the past 20 years. She’s published more than 1,000 articles for young reader magazines and newspapers as well as writing book length for kids. Full Bio