Cátia Chien is the 2026 Randolph Caldecott Gold Medalist for Fireworks, recognized for her luminous and evocative picture book art. She is also a winner of the New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated award and a two-time Society of Illustrators Gold Medal recipient for Original Art. Beyond publishing, Cátia has worked as a visual development artist on animated features such as Wish Dragon and The Little Prince. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Beijing National Gallery and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. She founded A Thousand Worlds, a free, evolving intersectional bookshelf of BIPOC creators’ picture books curated by BIPOC leaders in the industry.

Cindy Derby is an author and illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for children, including Outside In, written by Deborah Underwood, which received a Caldecott Honor.  NPR has called her illustrations “mesmerizing,” and The New York Times regards her work as “profound…alive…and wonderfully out of control.” Cindy’s books have been translated all over the world and have also been recognized with honors such as the Golden Kite Honor for Picture Book Illustration, the Crystal Kite Award, France’s Philosophia Jeunesse Prize, Brazil’s UNESCO Reading Chair Selection 10 Seal, and the Alpaca Award (bronze medal) in Japan’s Kembuchi Picture Book Awards. She lives with her family in San Francisco. Cindy’s grandmother performed at Fairyland and Cindy is excited to return with some of her grandmother’s puppets!

Mychal Threets is a librarian, literary ambassador, and the library’s number one fan (according to himself, admittedly). He grew up in Fairfield, right between Sacramento and San Francisco. He was raised in his local library as a home-school kid. He got his first library card at the age of five and was hooked on libraries. He got his first library job as a shelver at the library he grew up in and worked his way up to Supervising Librarian of that very same library. He is very open about his mental health. He talks about it in hopes that it’ll help others in their mental health journey. He is adamant about encouraging people to believe him when he says he’s happy they are here.

Randy Ribay writes stories for young people and the young at heart. His debut picture book, Hold, was just released this spring. He’s the author of Patron Saints of Nothing; Everything We Never Had; Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Reckoning of Roku; and more. He’s a two-time National Book Award nominee, a co-winner of the Michael L. Printz award, and a recipient of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association book award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book award. His books have appeared on the New York Times, Indie, and USA Today best-sellers lists. Born in the Philippines and raised in Michigan and Colorado, Randy currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, son, and cat-like dog.