Illustration by: Aixa Perez-Prado
Meet our New Contributors
At WNDMG Wednesday, we have great news: We’ve added three new exciting voices to the WNDMG team. Each of these amazing writers will bring a thoughtful presence to our mission to center, uplift, and celebrate diverse voices. We’re so excited for you to meet our new contributors!
Welcome to the Team
Kelly Garcia
Author Bio
Like Claudia, K.D. Garcia loves a good mystery. However, if she had run away, K.D. would’ve skipped right past the museum of art and dove into the museum of natural history. There, she would’ve focused on something spooky, like a mummy’s curse or the dark corner of the museum that might be haunted. After solving the mystery, K.D. would’ve spent her time studying the vertebrates of the world, because animals hold her entire heart. In real life, K.D. writes Middle Grade stories that are filled with family, friends, and fur babies alongside a mystery that may or may not involve a friendly (or unfriendly) haunting.
Why I’m Excited to Join WNDMG
I’m looking forward to contributing to WNDMG for a bunch of reasons. The opportunity to introduce MG readers to worlds where diverse people reach their full potential tops the list. Lots of middle graders haven’t been exposed to all the stereotypes us older folks have, and I believe that more inclusive books for MG-ers will translate to a more inclusive society—one day.
Shifa Saltagi Safadi
Author Bio
Shifa is always running, but not away from anything…rather to a quiet corner where she can read a good book in peace. When she’s not correcting grammar and teaching ELA to her middle school students or reviewing books on her Muslim bookstagram @muslimmommyblog, you can find her tapping away at her keyboard and inventing her own adventures with Syrian Muslim American main characters like herself and her four kids. Shifa lives near Chicago, and is the author of multiple picture books, and an unannounced MG Novel in Verse coming in 2024!
Why I’m Excited to Join WNDMG
I am hugely looking forward to being a WNDMG member as I am a superfan of all diverse books! As an ELA teacher for middle school students as well as a book blogger, I love seeing kids and parents alike with eyes that light up at seeing someone who looks like them or even has their same name in a book! Growing up as a Syrian Muslim in America, books were the way I made sense of the world, and although I often found myself searching for Muslims or Syrians in books- there truly was no rep besides damaging stereotypes.
Fast forward to when I started my Muslim book blog @muslimmommyblog in 2018, I was so excited to finally start finding Muslim and Arab books- and so I shared them on my instagram- with huge success and so many people constantly contacting me thanking me for letting them know about the diverse book options out there, as even Muslims and Arabs are hugely diverse!
I am so proud and happy to be a part of a community of writers and readers who help amplify marginalized voices, and am honored to be a part of the wonderful WNDMG group at MUF, and get the opportunity to champion and support even more diverse voices!
Ines Lozano
Author Bio
Ines Lozano writes children’s fiction, believing that our best stories come from the memories forged during childhood.
A proud latina, nothing drives her more than the chance to prove her family’s sacrifices worthwhile. Her grandparents came to the States from El Salvador and Puerto Rico with the hopes of offering their children and future generations the opportunity to choose their dreams over choosing survival.
Ines was born and raised on Long Island, and she continues to live there now with her husband, daughter, and rising tik-tok-star dog.
When she’s not writing, you can find Ines scrolling through Instagram and TikTok or shopping online for quirky earrings.
Why I’m Excited to Join WNDMG
I’m ecstatic about being a contributing member of From The Mixed Up Files…Of Middle-Grade Authors. I look forward to amplifying BIPOC-centered middle-grade stories.
