It’s almost that time again! Each year we open applications for our mentorship program, a year-long program in which mentees work one-on-one with their mentors to improve their craft, learn more about the publishing industry, and revise their completed manuscripts or portfolios. For 2023 mentorships, the application window will open on September 1, 2022.
Over the years, we have been proud to match acclaimed published authors and illustrators to rising diverse creators, who’ve gone on to do remarkable things in their own careers. Below are the books published or announced so far by our mentees since their mentorships. Congratulations to everyone!
We’re proud to share too that a few of our 2022 mentees have gone on to secure publishing deals. Marianna Leal published As Long As You Love Me (W by Wattpad Books) in September 2023. Ariana Padron illustrated The Cactus Dance, written by April Lesher, published in January 2023 by Lawley Publishing.
Unless noted otherwise, all of the following books are in the mentees’ respective mentorship categories.
PB = Picture Book
ER/CB = Early Reader/Chapter Book
MG = Middle Grade
YA = Young Adult
*
2022 Mentees
Illustration
- Ariana Padron
- The Cactus Dance by April Lesher (PB, January 2023, Lawley Publishing)
Young Adult
- Marianna Leal
- As Long As You Love Me (Adult, September 2023, W by Wattpad Books)
2021 Mentees
Illustration
- TeMika Grooms
- Put Your Shoes on and Get Ready! by Raphael G. Warnock (Jan 10, 2023, Philomel Books)
- Katherine Ahmed
- contributing illustrator to Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Inspiring Young Changemakers (October 4, 2022, Rebel Girls)
- Leo Quiles
- graphic novel Home (Fall 2024, Fiewel & Friends)
Picture Book
- Thushanthi Ponweera
- I Am Kavi (MG, Fall 2023, Holiday House)
Middle Grade
- Malia Maunakea
- Lei and the Fire Goddess (Summer 2023, Penguin Workshop)
Young Adult
- Ayida Shonibar
- contributor to Asian Ghost Short Stories (June 2022, Flame Tree Press)
- contributor to Transmogrify! (January 1, 2023, HarperTeen)
- contributor to Night of the Living Queers (Fall 2023, Wednesday Books)
- contributor to Being Ace (Fall 2023, Page Street)
- Clara Kumagai
- Catfish Rolling (March 2023, Zephyr)
2020 Mentees
Picture Book
- Valerie Bolling
- Together We Ride, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (April 2022, Chronicle Books)
- Ride, Roll, Run: Time for Fun!, illustrated by Sabrena Khadija (October 4, 2022, Abrams Appleseed)
- Let’s Dance, illustrated by Maine Diaz (March 2020, Astra Young Readers)
- Cynthia Harmony
- Mi Ciudad Sings/Mi Ciudad Canta, illustrated by Teresa Martínez (June 2022, Penguin Workshop)
- A Flicker of Hope, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth (Fall 2023, Viking)
Middle Grade
- Lily Quan
- Turning Red: The Real RPG: The Story of the Red Panda Girl (March 2022, Disney & Pixar)
- Kesha Grant
- A True Book: Women in the Civil Rights Movement (September 2020, Scholastic)
2019 Mentees
Illustration
- Adriana Hernandez-Bergstrom
- Abuelita and I Make Flan (August 9, 2022, Charlesbridge)
- Tumble (Summer 2023, Scholastic)
- Boomer At Your Service by Vanessa Keel (October 2019, Spork)
Picture Book
- Dorothy H. Price
- Jalen’s Big City Life series, illustrated by Shiane Salabie (August 2022 to January 2023, Capstone)
- Laurel Goodluck
- Forever Cousins, illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (September 20, 2022, Charlesbridge)
- Rock Your Mocs, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Fall 2023, Heartdrum)
- Too Much, illustrated by Bridget George (Spring 2024, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Middle Grade
- Amina Luqman-Dawson
- Freewater (Feb 2022, Little, Brown)
Young Adult
- Diana Ma
- The Unbeatable Lily Hong (MG, Winter 2024, Clarion Books)
- Her Rebel Highness (March 2022, Abrams)
- Heiress Apparently (December 2020, Abrams)
- Angeline Boulley
- Warrior Girl Unearthed (May 2, 2023, Henry Holt & Co)
- Firekeeper’s Daughter (March 2021, Henry Holt & Co)
2018 Mentees
Illustration
- Rahele Jomepour Bell
- Playdate by Maryann Macdonald (April 2019, Albert Whitman & Co)
- Jenn Kocsmiersky
- Nina Soni series by Kashmira Sheth (October 2020 to April 11, 2023, Peachtree)
- My Name Is Helen Keller by Myron Uhlberg (October 2020, Albert Whitman & Co.)
- Paul and His Ukulele by Robert Broder (September 2018, Ripple Grove Press)
Picture Book
- Chrystal Giles
- Not An Easy Win (MG, February 28, 2023, Random House Books for Young Readers)
- Take Back the Block (MG, January 2021, Random House Books for Young Readers)
- contributor to Thanku: Poems of Gratitude (September 2019, Lerner/Millbrook)
- Dane Liu
- Friends Are Friends, Forever, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield (January 2022, Henry Holt & Co.)
- Amazing: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All, co-written with Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani, illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel (Spring 2023, Viking/Penguin Random House)
- LaoLao’s Dumplings, illustrated by ShinYeon Moon (Fall 2023, Henry Holt & Co.)
Middle Grade
- Kaija Langley
- When Langston Dances, illustrated by Keith Mallett (PB, September 2021, Denene Millner Books)
- The Order of Things (MG, Spring 2023, Nancy Paulsen Books)
- A Century for Caroline (PB, Fall 2024, Denene Millner Books)
2017 Mentees
Illustration
- Olivia Aserr
- A Mermaid Girl by Sana Rafi (June 2022, Viking Books for Young Readers)
- Mama in Congress: Rashida Tlaib’s Journey to Washington by Adam Tlaib, Rashida Tlaib, Miranda Paul (September 20, 2022, Clarion Books)
- How to Make a Friend by Stephen W. Martin (July 2021, Clarion Books)
- Halloween Treat Hide-and-Seek (September 2021, Chronicle Books)
- Astronaut Training by Aneta Cruz (March 2021, Astra Young Readers)
- Joanne Wong
- Nami’s New Friend by Mandy Namjou Yom (September 2021)
- The Tiny Human Hotel by Emeri B. Montgomery (March 2018)
- The Marshmallow Sea by Christine Cole (2018)
- Our Farm by John Wellsted (2019)
Picture Book
- Kim MacPherson
- Wish, Miracle, Me! by Lindsay Coad (April 2021)
Middle Grade
- Patricia J. Miranda
- Leaf Man, illustrated by Chris O’Leary (PB, March 2019, Albert Whitman & Co.)
Young Adult
- Maya Prasad
- Drizzle, Dreams, & Lovestruck Things (October 18, 2022, Disney Hyperion)
- Sejal Since Battles Superstorms (ER/CB, Spring 2023, Aladdin/Simon & Schuster)
- A M Dassu
- Fight Back (MG, October 11, 2022, Lee & Low)
- Boy, Everywhere, illustrated by Zainab ‘Daby’ Faidhi (MG, October 2020, Lee & Low)
- The New Kid, illustrated by Huseyin Soenmezay (chapter book, Summer 2022, HarperCollins)
- The Class Champion, illustrated by Sibu Puthenveettil (January 2022, HarperCollins UK)
- contributor to What’s the Point of Science (October 2021, DK Books)
- contributor to Timelines of Everyone (October 2020, DK Books)
- Kelly Mullen-McWilliams
- Mirror Girls (February 2022, Little, Brown)
- Agnes at the End of the World (June 2020, Little, Brown)
Nonfiction
- Teresa Robeson
- Who Is Tibet’s Exiled Leader? The 14th Dalai Lama, illustrated by Angela Poon (April 4, 2023, Penguin Workshop)
- Clouds in Space: The Nebula Story, illustrated by Diana Renjina (Spring 2024, Candlewick/MIT Kids Press)
- Two Bicycles In Beijing, illustrated by Junyi Wu (April 2020, Albert Whitman & Co.)
- Queen of Physics, illustrated by Rebecca Huang (October 2019, Union Square Kids)
2016 Mentees
- Charlene Willing McManis
- Indian No More with Traci Sorell (MG, December 2019, Tu Books)
- Deidre D. Havrelock
- Buffalo Wild!, illustrated by Azby Whitecalf (PB, October 2021, Annick Press)
- Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of North American Traditional Knowledge, co-authored with Edward Kay (Spring 2023, Little, Brown)
- Buffalo: The Enduring Story of Buffalo and the First Peoples of North America, illustrated by Avis Charley (Summer 2023, Holiday House)
- Why We Dance, illustrated by Aly McKnight (Spring 2024, Abrams Books for Young Readers)
- The Heartbeat Drum, illustrated by Aphelandra (TBD, Abrams Books for Young Readers)
- contributor to The Anti-Racist Cookbook (Fall 2023, Orca Books)
- Jacqueline Alcántara
- Climb On! by Baptiste Paul (PB, February 2022, North South Books)
- Your Mama by NoNieqa Ramos (PB, April 2021, Versify Books/HMH)
- Jump at the Sun by Alicia D. Williams (PB, January 2021, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books)
- Freedom Soup by Tami Charles (PB, December 2019, Candlewick Press)
- The Field by Baptiste Paul (PB, March 2018, North South Books)
******
JoAnn Yao is the Social Media Manager for We Need Diverse Books. Among other things, she has conducted research for the American Film Institute, provided book and script coverage for a Hollywood agency, designed an online narrative game, and written a comic for a New Frontiers anthology. She lives in New York City with her dragon’s hoard of books. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.
