ILLUSTRATOR DRAW-OFF

EDEL RODRIGUEZ is a Cuban American artist and author who has exhibited internationally with shows in Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Spain. His latest book is The Mango Tree/La mata de mango: A Picture Book (Harry N. Abrams). Rodriguez has received the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators and was the art director of Time magazine. Books he has illustrated include Song for Jimi: The Story of Guitar Legend Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Smith Jr., Float Like a Butterfly by Ntozake Shange, Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy, and Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx by Jonah Winter. His clients include The New York Times, Time, and The New Yorker, among other publications and book publishers. Rodriguez’s artwork is in the collections of various institutions, including the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., as well as in numerous private collections. He lives with his wife and daughter in New Jersey.

GEORGE O'CONNOR is The New York Times bestselling author of the Olympians series – graphic novels featuring the tragic, dramatic, and epic lives of the Greek Pantheon – and its counterpart series, Asgardians, featuring the Norse Gods. His first graphic novel, Journey into Mohawk Country (First Second), pushed the boundaries of the genre, using as its sole text the historical journal of the 17th-century Dutch trader Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert. O'Connor illustrated acclaimed playwright Adam Rapp’s Ball Peen Hammer (First Second), and collaborated with Daniel G. Newman on Unrig: How to Fix Our Broken Democracy (First Second), the first volume in the World Citizen Comics series. He is also the creator of popular picture books such as The New York Times bestselling Kapow! (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing) and If I Had a Triceratops (Candlewick). He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

JERRY CRAFT is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the graphic novels New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip.  New Kid is the only book in history to win the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature (2020); the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature (2019), and the Coretta Scott King Author Award for the most outstanding work by an African American writer (2020). Jerry was born in Harlem and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City and now travels the world telling kids and their families about the importance of reading.

JOHN HENDRIX is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator. His books include the young adult graphic novel The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler – a YALSA Nonfiction Excellence in Nonfiction Award finalist – and the picture books Go and Do Likewise!: The Parables and Wisdom of Jesus, Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914, Miracle Man: The Story of Jesus, and Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero. He is also the author-artist behind the adult books The Holy Ghost: A Spirited Comic and Drawing Is Magic: Discovering Yourself in a Sketchbook. He is chair of the MFA Illustration and Visual Culture program at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Hendrix lives in Webster Groves, Missouri.