Meet the authors of the ten books shortlisted for the 2015 Teen Reader’s Choice Award. This year’s contending novels include a haunting peek at the life of a teenage girl in 1950s New Orleans; a tense narrative with a mix of pulse-quickening fight scenes and heart-stopping near escapes; and a mind-blowing thriller that delivers a shocking twist ending.

Jacqueline Woodson author of Brown Girl Dreaming

Jacqueline Woodson was born in Columbus, Ohio and lived in Nelsonville, Ohio before her family moved south. During her early years she lived in Greenville, South Carolina, before moving to Brooklyn at about the age of seven.

As an author, Woodson’s known for the detailed physical landscapes she writes into each of her books. She places boundaries everywhere—social, economic, physical, sexual, racial—then has her characters break through both the physical and psychological boundaries to create a strong and emotional story. She is also known for her optimism. She has said that she dislikes books that do not offer hope

Jandy Nelson author of I’ll Give You the Sun 

Jandy Nelson is an American author of young adult fiction. Prior to her career as an author, she worked for 13 years as a literary agent at Manus & Associates Literary Agency. She holds a BA from Cornell University, a MFA in poetry from Brown University, and a MFA in children’s writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Nelson lives in San Francisco, California.

Nelson’s first novel, The Sky Is Everywhere, follows seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker as she copes with her sister’s death. I’ll Give You the Sun, her second book, was listed on numerous best-of-the-year lists, including the 2015 YALSA Top 10 Best Fiction for Young Adults, Time magazine’s Top 10 YA Books, and the American Library Association Rainbow List Top 10.

Cat Winters author of In the Shadow of Blackbirds

Winters spent her childhood in Laguna Niguel, California, not far from Disneyland, which may explain her love of haunted mansions, bygone eras, and fantasylands. She received degrees in drama and English from the University of California, Irvine, and formerly worked in publishing. She now lives in a suburb outside of Portland, Oregon, surrounded by forests that offer ample inspiration for her Gothic, atmospheric tales.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds received three starred reviews and was a finalist for YALSA’s Morris Award for debut YA fiction.

Neal Bascomb author of The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi

Neal Bascomb is an American journalist and author. He is known for his books on popular history.

After graduation, he worked as a journalist in London, Paris, and Dublin. He was an editor for St. Martin’s Press, and in 2000, he began writing books full-time. He has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.

He currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

Ruta Sepetys author of Out of the Easy

Ruta Sepetys is an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction.  As an author she is passionate about the power of history and literature to foster global awareness and connectivity.

Born and raised in Michigan, Ruta earned a B.S. in International Finance from Hillsdale College. While overseas, she studied at the Centre d’études Européennes in Toulon, France and at the ICN Graduate Business School in Nancy, France. Ruta currently lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.

Elizabeth Wein author of Rose Under Fire

Elizabeth E. Wein was born in New York City, New York on October 2, 1964. She moved to England when she was three. When she was six, her father was sent to the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, where she lived from 1970 to 1973.

Wein moved back to the United States when her parents separated, and she was raised by her mother in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania until her death in a car accident in 1978, after which Wein lived with her maternal grandparents. She wrote her first novel at age 11.

Wein attended Yale University and, after a year of work-study in England, spent seven years getting a PhD in Folklore at the University of Pennsylvania. Wein moved to England with her English husband Tim in 1995 and settled in Scotland in 2000. She and Tim have two children.

Cammie McGovern author of Say What You Will

Cammie was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter a high school teacher, and a university professor. Her older sister is actress Elizabeth McGovern.

Cammie currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her husband and three sons, the oldest of whom is autistic. Many of her life experiences with her family, autism and starting Whole Children influenced her writings.

Marie Lu author of The Young Elites

Lu was born in 1984 in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, and later moved to Beijing. In 1989, she and her family moved to the United States during the Tiananmen Square Protest. She attended the University of Southern California and interned at Disney Interactive Studios.

Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing Assassin’s Creed, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Sharon McKay author of War Brothers; art by Daniel Lafrance

Sharon E. McKay is a Canadian author of novels and graphic novels for children and young adults. She was born in 1954 in Montreal, Quebec, and earned a B.A. from York University in 1978. She lives in Prince Edward Island.

Daniel Lafrance

Without having gone to any art or animation schools, Daniel started working in animation in 1984 as an apprentice at studio Pascal Blais in Montreal to eventually become a senior animator at Disney Canada by 1996. He transitioned to being a full time storyboard artist in 2002.

His 2013 graphic novel War Brothers was nominated for an Eisner award.

Daniel lives in Toronto, Canada.

E. Lockhart author of We Were Liars

Emily Jenkins, who sometimes uses the pen name E. Lockhart, is an American writer of children’s picture books, young-adult novels, and adult fiction.

Jenkins grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Seattle, Washington. In high school she attended summer drama schools at Northwestern University and the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis. She went to Vassar College, where she studied illustrated books, and earned a doctorate in English literature from Columbia University. She currently lives in the New York City area.