Calling All Future Voters!

Laura Atkins is a children's book author, editor, teacher, and the director of the Manzanita Children’s Book Community. She co-wrote Fred Korematsu Speaks Up, winner of several awards including the Carter G. Woodson Award and the Jane Addams Honor Award. She and co-author Stan Yogi have spoken to over 8,000 students at over 50 schools. She also co-wrote Biddy Mason Speaks Up with poet Arisa White, which won a Nautilus and Independent Publisher Book Award. Laura worked at Children's Book Press and as an editor at Lee & Low Books and is a freelance editor. With an MA in Children's Literature from Roehampton University in London, and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Laura lives in Berkeley, CA. She is passionate about equity and true access to all voices in children’s publishing.

Edward A. Hailes Jr. is an experienced civil rights attorney and an ordained Baptist minister. He recently retired from his position as the Managing Director and General Counsel for Advancement Project, a national, policy and legal action group that creates strategies for achieving universal opportunity and a racially just democracy. His legal career included key, successful roles at the NAACP and at the U.S Commission on Civil Rights where he led across many advocacy platforms. Hailes earned degrees at Howard University as an Honors Program graduate and the Howard University School of Law. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, has served on several nonprofit boards of directors, and served as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Jennifer Lai-Peterson is a civil rights attorney, legal strategist, and movement lawyer. A litigator and former union and community organizer, Jen served for nearly eight years as senior attorney in the Power and Democracy Program at Advancement Project where she focused on the federal Right to Vote Initiative as well as state-based voting rights restoration efforts. Jen is a member of the California Bar and a graduate of UCLA School of Law and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in Virginia where she is a proud member of the Political Action Committee of the NAACP Fredericksburg Branch and a supporter of Hamkae Center, a Virginia-based Asian American civil rights organization. Jen believes deeply in the power and leadership of everyday people in protecting and advancing multiracial democracy in the U.S. and abroad.

Srimalie Bassani lives and works in Italy. As a child, she developed a passion for drawing and painting and was always encouraged in her artistic expression. Srimalie can often be found at her desk with a stack of books, a cup of tea, and her fat cat Dusty. When she's not painting you'll find Srimalie in her kitchen cooking a new delicious dish for her parents and friends.