Julie Murphy began her career as a librarian and debuted as a fiction writer with Side Effects May Vary in 2014. Dumplin’, published in 2015, became a New York Times bestseller and one of TIME magazine’s Best 100 YA Books of All Time and was adapted into a successful Netflix film. Dumplin’ is the first book in a series that includes Puddin’ (2018), the middle grade novel Dear Sweet Pea (2019), and Pumpkin (2021). Murphy has also published picture books, the adult contemporary romance If the Shoe Fits (2021), short stories in several anthologies, and collaborative work, including the young adult novel Let Them Stare, cowritten with Jonathan Van Ness, who is known for his appearance on the popular TV fashion show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Murphy’s novels are frequently praised as having engaging, likeable, plus-sized characters and for supporting body-positive attitudes.

Sierra Simone is the author of several series of contemporary romance novels, including the popular New Camelot series, which reimagines the love relationship between King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot as a throuple, modernized to feature the president of the United States, his wife, and his best friend. Simone’s Lyonesse series similarly retells the story of King Mark, Tristan, and Isolde by recasting Mark as the owner of a private club located in Washington, DC.