We spotlight the authors of six of the season’s most promising children’s and YA debuts.

Tracy Deonn

Tracy Deonn discusses her debut YA fantasy, Legendborn, a mash-up of Arthurian legend and Black girl magic set in the contemporary South.

 



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Chloe Gong

As a college senior, Chloe Gong, author of These Violent Delights—a fantastical take on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set in 1920s Shanghai—is one of PW’s youngest ever Flying Starts.



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Aiden Thomas

After years of being unable to find books representing his experience as a queer Latinx trans individual, nonbinary author Aiden Thomas has written one himself: Cemetery Boys, one of the year’s standout YA novels.

 



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Darcie Little Badger

We spoke with Darcie Little Badger about her #OwnVoices YA debut, Elatsoe, a supernatural mystery starring an asexual Lipan Apache teenager.



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Jashar Awan

Author-illustrator Jashar Awan’s debut picture book, What a Lucky Day!, which follows a group of animals as they confront their stereotypes and misconceptions of each other, has a timely message.

 



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Van Hoang

For as long as she can remember, Van Hoang has been a writer, so the release of her first middle grade novel, Girl Giant and the Monkey King—inspired by her Vietnamese heritage—is the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition.



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