Dhonielle Clayton spent most of her childhood under her grandmother's table with a stack of books. She hails from the Washington, D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side. She is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Marvellers, The Belles series, Shattered Midnight, co-author of Blackout, and the co-author of The Rumor Game and the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series. She taught secondary school for several years, and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is Board Chair of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books, and President of Cake Creative, an IP story kitchen dedicated to diverse books for all ages. Sheโs an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief.