Amanda Gorman is the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history. She is a committed advocate for the environment, racial equality, and gender justice. Amanda's activism and poetry have been featured on The Today Show, PBS Kids and CBS This Morning, and in The New York Times, Vogue and Essence. In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word - a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. After graduating cum laude from Harvard University, she now lives in her hometown of Los Angeles. Gorman's performance of her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration received critical acclaim and international attention. The special edition of her inaugural poem was published in March 2021 and debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestsellers list and was a Sunday Times Bestseller in the United Kingdom. Her debut picture book, Change Sings, will be published in September 2021 and her breakout poetry collection, Call Us What We Carry, will be published in December 2021.

Loren Long is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Otis series which is in development as an animated television series. He's also the illustrator of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama and Love by Matt de la Pena. He recently illustrated a modern edition of the Clement C. Moore classic The Night Before Christmas. He lives near Cincinnati with his wife and rescue hound, Charlie.