We spotlight the authors of five of the season’s most promising children’s and YA debuts. Their offerings include a tale inspired by Ghanaian legend, a dystopian middle grade novel, a YA novel starring a Latina poet, and more.
Spring 2026 Writers to Watch: Ama Ofosua Lieb
Growing up in Ghana, the debut author of Goldenborn loved listening to stories about Anansi, the trickster spider of legend.
Spring 2026 Writers to Watch: Petra Lord
A lifelong fantasy reader, Lord began what would become her highly anticipated debut YA novel Queen of Faces as a side project while studying TV writing.
Spring 2026 Writers to Watch: Cassie Miller
Miller's YA rom-com, Meet Me Under the Lights, is a love letter to small towns and two of the things their residents hold dear: baseball and community theater.
Spring 2026 Writers to Watch: Anna Monders
After reading an article in the MIT Technology Review, Monders, an alumna of the school’s planetary science master’s program, found the spark for her dystopian middle grade novel, Tested.
Spring 2026 Writers to Watch: René Peña-Govea
In Peña-Govea's debut novel, Estela, Undrowning, a Latina student at an elite public high school finds herself at the center of a citywide debate about merit-based admissions.
