Young Adult Novelist Convention (YANovCon) 2025

Kara HL Chen, opens a new window is a Taiwanese American writer who received her MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College. She is the author of LOVE & RESISTANCE (Quill Tree/HarperCollins) and ASKING FOR A FRIEND (7/23/24, Quill Tree/HarperCollins).  

X (formerly Twitter): @hl_kara
Instagram: @hl_kara
Tiktok: @hl_kara

Josh Galarza , opens a new window writes fiction and creative nonfiction and is a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking and book arts. His research centers around male gender performance, queer issues, body liberation, and Chicano studies. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky (Henry Holt & Company), is a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. After a lengthy career in Montessori education, Galarza earned his BA in English and BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he later taught printmaking. He currently lives in Richmond, VA, where he teaches in the English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University while completing an MFA in creative writing. 

Instagram/Threads: @authorjoshgalarza

X (formerly Twitter): @JoshGalarza

Anna Gracia, opens a new window is a former Division I athlete and tennis coach who now excels at snacking while yelling advice at the TV. Her weaknesses include crying at movies, running long distances, and temperatures over 70 degrees. Her debut YA novel, Boys I Know, was both an ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next pick, and was featured in The New York Times, Paste, Seventeen, and more. See more at anna-gracia.com. 

Instagram: @GrahSeeYa
Tiktok: @GrahSeeYa

Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, she received her B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and obtained her Master's degree in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently an elementary school teacher whose pedagogy centers on critical race theory at the primary education level. Shut Up, This is Serious is her debut novel.  

Instagram: @carolinaixta 

Stacey Lee is the New York Times and Indie bestselling author of historical and contemporary young adult fiction, including The Downstairs Girl, a Reese’s Book Club Late Summer 2021 YA pick, and Luck of the Titanic, which received five starred reviews. A native of southern California and fourth-generation Chinese American, she is a founder of the We Need Diverse Books movement and writes stories for all kids (even the ones who look like adults).  

X (formerly Twitter): @staceyleeauthor
Instagram: @staceyleeauthor 

Jessica Parra As a lawyer and daughter of Guatemalan and Cuban bakers, Jessica Parra never objects to an extra slice of cake. She’s a Los Angeles native who loves to write about Latinas with big hair (and chasing even bigger dreams), complicated families, and the healing magic of acceptance. She’s the author of Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success, The Quince Project, and many unfinished first drafts about cats living their best lives—all nine of them. When she isn’t drafting books you can find her sipping kombucha, cuddling with her kitties, or co-piloting the Millennium Falcon at Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge. You can visit Jessica at jessicaparra.com, opens a new window 

Instagram: @jessicatparra  

Grace K. Shim is the young adult author of The Noh Family and Not Your Average Jo. She grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma as one of two Korean-Americans at her high school (her sister was the other one). As an adult, Grace obtained an M. Ed. in Early Childhood Education and has most recently worked as an advocate for cultural exchange with young adults. Today, Grace lives in the East Bay and writes books with Korean-American protagonists she wished she had available to her as a teen. 

Instagram: @gkshimwrites  

Shannon Takaoka is the author of two young adult novels – Everything I Thought I Knew, a 2022 Texas Library Association TAYSHAS reading list selection, and The Totally True Story of Gracie Byrne, 2023 Silver Winner of the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards in the Young Adult category. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family, where she also works as a business writer and editor. 

Instagram & Threads: @shannontakaokawrites
Website: https://shannontakaokawrites.com/ 

LaLa Thomas is a professor, scholar, combat Army veteran, English teacher, and author of multiple genres. After her first years of teaching and mentoring in one of the most struggling school districts in the nation, she decided to use those experiences to create stories through characters who represent young Black voices. LaLa calls two places home: the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, and Harlem, New York. She is a proud Afro-Caribbean American, who is thankful for all the gifts her ancestors have given her. LaLa and her divine daughter, Aazariah Dior (a.k.a. “Z”), currently live in San Francisco.  

Instagram: @theelalasantini, opens a new window   

Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in creative writing from USF. She is the author of the 2017 Parent's Choice Gold Medal-winning picture book, Also an Octopus, illustrated by Benji Davies. The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is her debut young adult novel, which was an NPR, Kirkus, School Library Journal and Book Page Best Book of 2020. Its sequel, The Siren, The Song and The Spy came out September 2023, and her newest graphic novel, The Worst Ronin came out in 2024. Her graphic novel, Squad, is an Ignyte and Locus Award-nominated comic book, and her newest picture book, Love in the Library, has been named a Best Picture Book of 2022 by Book Page, School Library Journal, Booklist, and Publisher’s Weekly. Maggie is a founding member of Authors Against Book Bans. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband, children, and objectively perfect dog.  

Bluesky: @maggietokudahall.bsky.social 
Instagram : @maggietokudahall
Tiktok : @maggietokudahall 

Edward Underhill (he/him) is a queer trans man who grew up in the suburbs of Wisconsin, where he could not walk to anything, which meant he had to make up his own adventures. He studied music in college, spent several years living in very small apartments in New York City, and currently resides in California with his partner and a talkative black cat. His books for teens include Kids’ Indie Next Pick and YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection Always the Almost; This Day Changes Everything, which earned starred reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, and the Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books; and the forthcoming In Case You Read This. His adult fiction debut, The In-Between Bookstore, publishes in January 2025 from HarperCollins.  

Instagram: @edwardunderhill  

Dale Walls is an Oakland-based author, culture writer, and curator. Dale has written for Teen Vogue, Artsy, and Google Arts and Culture and is a 2022 Lambda Literary Fellow.   

Instagram : @dalewallsauthor 
X (formerly Twitter): @dalewallsauthor 

Abigail Hing Wen is an AI tech leader, film producer and the New York Times best-selling author of Loveboat, Taipei, which has been adapted as the movie Love in Taipei, now streaming on Netflix and starring Ashley Liao (Hunger Games) and Ross Butler (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before). Her sophomore universe, Kisses, Codes and Conspiracies, a thriller and romantic comedy novel is an instant National Best Seller, USA Today Best Seller and Amazon Editor’s Pick for YA Book of the Month. 

Loveboat, Taipei was Abigail’s first published novel after ten years of writing by night and working by day as a leader in law, venture capital and artificial intelligence. "With a knack for trying and succeeding at new things," according to Forbes, Abigail has been described by Pop Culturist as “one of the voices of her generation” and by Forbes as, “One of the most respected voices in fairness and AI.” 

Abigail is directing her first short film, a prequel to her unannounced, forthcoming middle-grade novel on artificial intelligence. 

Abigail previously clerked on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee. She holds degrees from Harvard, Columbia and Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives with her husband and two children in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

Instagram : @abigailhingwen 
Tiktok : @abigailhingwen