When Christy Award® winning author Ann Marie Stewart’s first novel, Stars in the Grass, won best debut, she was challenged and inspired for even greater storytelling with a second award-winning book Out of the Water

She originated the Preparing My Heart series, added a Christmas devotional: All is Calm, All is Bright, and her “Ann’s Lovin’ Ewe” column runs nationally in The Country Register.

When she’s not writing a story, she may be acting it out or telling it through song, as she coaches musical theatre. Ann loves hanging out with her husband and two adult daughters, thrifting, watching UVA basketball, and shepherding a whole flock of fuzzy sheep on Skyemoor Farm in Virginia.

Award-winning author CJ Milacci writes stories for teens and young adults with heart-pounding action and hope. As the podcast host for Read Clean YA with CJ, she loves talking about books and the deeper themes woven into the pages of each novel.

She’s passionate about crafting stories of good overcoming evil, finding hope in the midst of seemingly hopeless circumstances, and true acceptance. 

Jasmine’s writing dream began with the anthology of zoo animals she painstakingly wrote and illustrated at age five, to rather limited acclaim. Thankfully, her writing (but not her drawing) has improved since then. She is a clinically-trained psychologist but no, she cannot read your mind.

When she isn’t killing defenseless house plants, pretending she can play the piano, eating peanut butter out of the jar, or memorizing funny film quotes, she and her husband David are attempting to keep their Aussie backyard free of flesh-eating arachnids and dragon-sized crocodiles. Honestly, it’s a miracle she finds the time to write any books.

You can learn more about her at jjfischer.com.