Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960, at the age of ten. She is the author of numerous works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including the novel In the Time of the Butterflies, which has more than a million copies in print and was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program. Alvarez has received the Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature; was named Woman of the Year by Latina magazine; and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama. She lives in Vermont.

Elizabeth Acevedo (foreword) is the New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, as well as With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land. She is a National Poetry Slam champion and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. She lives with her partner in Washington, DC.