Gina Kromhout (she/her), Committee Chair, is a YA Senior Librarian I at the Brooklyn Public Library. She obtained her Bachelor’s of Education and MLIS at Kent State University. She is currently the ALA Councilor for GameRT and a 2018 ALA Emerging Leader. She is often called upon at her library for her knowledge of anime, manga, video games, comic books, and tabletop RPGs to patrons and coworkers alike. She can speak Japanese (thanks to two years’ instruction and a minor in Asian Studies) but she can’t read much more than a Japanese children’s book. Gina and her husband live in New York City with their dog, three cats, and a whole lot of nerdy stuff.

Dr. Kim Becnel is a professor of Library Science at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and a former children’s librarian and youth services manager for public libraries in Louisiana and North Carolina. She earned her MLIS and Ph.D. in literature and language from the University of South Carolina. She teaches course in management, literature, cultural competency, and organization of information. Youth literature, intellectual freedom, and distance pedagogy are her areas of research interest.

Nichole Brown is an ACEs Aware, Trauma Informed Children’s Librarian II at the Oakland Public Library in California.  She is a rock star with the 0 – 5 year old demographic because she mastered storytime programs with puppets; and using her annoying pipsqueak like voice to bring book characters in a book to life.  Her superpower is encouraging reluctant readers of all ages to read the first chapter of the books she recommends.  When she is not encouraging teenagers to read age appropriate (although not necessarily parent approved) literature, she helps adults with their information service needs. It should come as no surprise to learn that in addition to being an excellent public service librarian, Nichole is a strong advocate for children and young adults.  Nichole is passionate about providing quality library service to all and reading with reckless abandon.

Katie Day is an international school teacher-librarian in Singapore.  An American expatriate for over 35 years, she has an undergraduate degree in Russian, a master’s degree in children’s literature from the UK, and teaching and master of library and information science degrees via Australia. Active in international school teacher-librarian networks, she has been heavily involved in the development and management of the Red Dot Book Awards in Singapore and the Siam Book Awards in Thailand, as well as the Neev Children’s Book Award in India.  She has also lived in Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and the UK, and was a month-long guest editor on the GLLI blog for the UN #SDGs #WorldKidLit in March 2021 and for #IndiaKidLit in September 2022. Twitter: @librarianedge.

Danny Glasner began as an elementary homeroom teacher, but he has been a technology coach, learning support, and for the past six years a primary school library/media specialist and whole school teacher librarian in Vietnam. The library brings many of Danny’s passions together; love of reading, technology, diversity, justice, mindfulness and service all with a heavy dollop of empathy. It’s a safe space, where the entire learning community is made to feel welcome and seen. Danny utilizes his network to bring people together, to help children connect ideas, and to amplify their actions by broadening their audience. His passion for connecting people and ideas inspired him to start up #inTLlead, a grassroots teacher librarian leadership group, and #inTLchat, a Twitter hashtag and chat that connects librarians all over the world. He also joined #PubPDAsia as one of the founding city hosts. He is also a founding member and ally of #wlead, a women’s leadership group in education.

Mia Spangenberg translates fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature from Finnish, Swedish, and German into English. Her work has been published in Finland and the UK, and in journals such as LitHub and Asymptote, and she is a regular contributor to the WorldKidLit blog. Her translation of Pirkko Saisio’s autofictive novel The Red Book of Farewells (2003) will be published in 2023 by Two Lines Press, and she was awarded an honorable mention for an excerpt of her translation by the American-Scandinavian Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in Scandinavian studies from the University of Washington, Seattle, where she resides with her family. You can find her on her website: https://www.miaspangenberg.com/

Sarah Swan is a public school librarian — a field that allows her to combine her greatest passions of travel and storytelling. Sarah particularly loves working to bring stories from outside the United States into her students’ lives, as well as learning everything she can about the literary canons her English-language learners love so much. She has a Master of Letters degree in Victorian Literature from the University of Glasgow, and a Master of Library Information Science degree in School Library Media from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Sarah hopes to continue her education through doctoral research in the field of international youth literature.