Kalynn Bayron & Laila Sabreen, both authors of books written for young adult audiences, will discuss how (& why) they do what they do.

Kalynn Bayron is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of young adult novels Cinderella Is Dead, This Poison Heart, This Wicked Fate, You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight and Sleep Like Death, and the middle grade Vanquishers series. She is a classically trained vocalist, and she grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. When she’s not writing you can find her listening to Ella Fitzgerald on loop, attending the theatre, watching scary movies, and spending time with her kids. She lives here in Ithaca with her family.

Laila Sabreen is a young adult contemporary writer who was raised in the Washington DC area. She is a recent graduate of Emory University and is currently pursuing her PhD in English Literature. Her love of writing began as a love of reading, which started when she used to take weekly trips to her local library. There she fell in love with the Angelina Ballerina series, so much so that she started to write Angelina Ballerina fanfiction at the age of five (though she did not know it was fanfiction at the time). When she isn’t writing, she can be found creating niche playlists, watching reality TV, working on an academic article about literature and Black girlhood, or hanging out on Substack. Her debut YA contemporary novel, YOU TRULY ASSUMED, released with Inkyard Press/HarperCollins on February 8, 2022. She also has a short story included in the YA anthology, STUDY BREAK, which released with Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan in Winter 2023 and featured short stories written by Gen Z contributors for Gen Z readers.