Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong American writer, teacher and public speaker. Born in the refugee camps of Thailand to a family that escaped the genocide of the Secret War in Laos, she came to America at the age six. Yang holds degrees from Carleton College and Columbia University. Her work has won numerous awards and recognition including multiple Minnesota Book Awards, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor, an ALA Notable Children's Book Award, the 2023 Asian/Pacific American Awardfor Literature, Dayton's Literary Peace Prize, and a PEN USA Award in Nonfiction. Jiemei Lin is an artist born in Hangzhou, China, currently living and working in the Inland Northwest, Washington State. Lin works with both digital media and traditional media to create paintings, murals, and illustrations. Her work includes The Rock in My Throat which was selected as a Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature Honor Book in the Picture Book category. Lin's mission as illustrator is to represent and communicate withall audiences from underrepresented groups in her own visual language.

As a public artist, Lin has been designing and executing large-scale public murals in both the pacific and inland Northwest.