2025 NSK Jury

Nidhi Chanani is an award-winning author and illustrator of over a dozen books. She was born in Kolkata, India, and raised in California. She holds a degree in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2012 she was honored by the Obama administration as a Champion of Change. Her graphic novels include Pashmina, Jukebox, Super Boba Café, and the Shark Princess series. She wrote and illustrated the picture book What will my story be? She’s illustrated a number of picture books, including I will be fierce, Strong and Binny’s Diwali. Nidhi lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her family. Nominee: Hena Khan

Susan Fletcher has written twelve novels for kids and young adults, including Shadow Spinner, the Dragon Chronicles, Journey of the Pale Bear, and her latest, Sea Change, due out from Abrams next spring. Her books have been translated into nine languages and include a Golden Kite Honor Book as well as ALA Notable Books, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, BCCB Blue Ribbon Books, and School Library Journal Best Books. Susan taught for many years in the MFA in Writing for Children program at Vermont College. She lives in Bryan, Texas, with her husband and their dog, Neville. Nominee: Martine Leavitt

Guadalupe García McCall is the national bestselling, award-winning author of several young adult novels, some short stories for adults, and many poems. Guadalupe has received the prestigious Pura Belpré Award, a Westchester Young Adult Fiction Award, the Tomás Rivera Mexican-American Children’s Book Award, among many other accolades. Guadalupe is currently affiliate faculty in the MFA Creative Writing program at Antioch University LA. She is working on four novels coming from Bloomsbury and Tu Books (2024–2027). Her recent works include the gothic borderland novel Echoes of Grace and the romantasies Secret of the Moon Conch and Hearts of Fire and Snow, both of which she co-wrote with friend and colleague Dr. David Bowles. Nominee: Lulu Delacre

Photo by Elizabeth McGuire

Varian Johnson is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including The Parker Inheritance, which won both Coretta Scott King Author Honor and Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor awards; The Great Green Heist, an ALA Notable Children’s book and Kirkus Reviews Best Book; and the graphic novel Twins, illustrated by Shannon Wright, an NPR Best Book. Varian received a BS in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He lives outside of Austin, Texas, with his family. Nominee: Malinda Lo

Magdalena Mora is a Chicago- and Minneapolis-based illustrator, designer, and art educator. She’s illustrated numerous award-winning books including Stephen Briseño’s The Notebook Keeper, Claudia Guadalupe Martínez’s Still Dreaming / Seguimos Soñando, and Elana K. Arnold’s The Fish of Small Wishes. Her work has been recognized by the New York Times, the American Library Association, and the Chicago Public Library, among others. Nominee: Aida Salazar

Kate Rafiq is an award winning children’s author and illustrator, currently living in Wales (UK) with her husband and four children. So far, she has written, illustrated, and published three books: Birmingham Boy, The World Is Your Masjid (which has been translated into Indonesian), and We Are Here. Kate is currently working on her next picture book while running operations for Dune Books, her tiny independent publishing house. Kate sends her books to booksellers in multiple countries around the world, including New Zealand, the US, South Africa, and Indonesia. Nominee: Hatem Aly

Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author and LGBTQ-refugees advocate. His memoir, Crooked Teeth, comes out in May 2024. His latest novel, The Foghorn Echoes, won the Lambda Award for Gay Fiction and was nominated for the BC & Yukon Book awards and the city of Vancouver Book Award. The Clothesline Swing is translated to multiple languages. His award-winning children’s books The Salma Series continues to receive accolades. Salma the Syrian Chef has garnered over seventeen awards and nominations; Salma Writes a Book won the prestigious Publishing Triangle Award 2024. Nominee: Cherie Dimaline

Sabaa Tahir is a former newspaper editor who grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s eighteen-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, listening to thunderous indie rock, and playing guitar and piano badly. Her #1 New York Times bestselling An Ember in the Ashes series has been translated into more than thirty-five languages, and the first book in the series was named one of Time’s 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. Tahir’s most recent novel, All My Rage, won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Printz Medal, and the 2022 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry. Nominee: Samira Ahmed

Lauren Tamaki is a Canadian illustrator and designer. She loves acrylic ink, pencils, and watercolor paper. Her clients include the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Pentagram, Penguin, the New Yorker, and Disney. She is honored to have been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, Society of News Design, American Illustration, and the National Magazine Awards. Her book with Elizabeth Partridge, Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration, received a Sibert Medal in 2023. Nominee: Kyo Maclear