Co-founder of the award-winning blog, The Brown Bookshelf, Paula Chase is a longtime advocate for diversifying the type of fiction featuring Black characters that’s highlighted among educators, librarians and parents. She’s a recipient of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) Konigsberg Award for her advocacy.

Chase is the author of ten novels. So Done (Greenwillow/HarperCollins), her critically acclaimed middle grade debut, was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book, a Chicago Library Best of the Best Book, and a Louisiana Young Readers Choice nominee.

So Done, Dough Boys, Turning Point and Keeping It Real were Junior Library Guild Gold Selections and blazed the trail for books that tackle tough and sometimes taboo topics for younger readers. Chase’s five Del Rio Bay Clique novels, helped Kensington Books launch its Dafina YA imprint in 2007.