Jewish Children's Book Festival

Sara Holly Ackerman is a children's book author and school librarian in Brooklyn, New York. Her picture books include The Gabi That Girma Wore (winner of the 2025 Children's Africana Book Award), Not Just the Driver!, Challah for Shabbat Tonight, and others.

Sabina Hahn is a Latvian-born author and illustrator whose work blends quiet humor, emotional nuance, and a deep sense of wonder. Raised in Riga, she spent her childhood devouring books, daydreaming and drawing - habits that gradually shaped her creative voice and led her toward a life in storytelling. She now lives and works in New York, where she continues to turn her lifelong love of reading and doodling into expressive, character-driven art.

Sabina’s illustrations are known for their warmth, subtle wit, and the way they capture the magic of ordinary moments.

As both an author-illustrator and a collaborator, Sabina creates picture books for children as well as illustrated works for a broader audience. Her artwork for Into the Uncut Grass - a fable for adults written by Trevor Noah - brought her expressive visual style to a wide readership; the book debuted as a #1 New York Times bestseller.

Across her projects, Sabina continues to explore the interplay between text and image, crafting stories that invite readers into worlds where humor, tenderness, and imagination live side by side.

Ann Diament Koffsky is the award-winning author and illustrator of more than fifty books for kids including Ping Pong Shabbat (Little Bee Books) the Kayla and Kugel series (Apples and Honey Press) Blazing Humor: the Story of Mel Brooks (forthcoming, Intergalactic Afikoman) and The Story of Purim by Haman (forthcoming, PJ Publishing.) Her book, Different Kinds of Minds (Philomel) was in collaboration with Temple Grandin. More than 10 of her books have been PJ library selections, and her book Noah’s Swimathon received a Sydney Taylor notable designation from the Association of Jewish Libraries. Ann also creates free Jewish coloring pages for kids, which you can sign up to receive on her website, annkoffsky.com. She lives on Long Island, NY, with her family.

GRAMMY Winning, NYC based singer-songwriter Joanie Leeds is a National touring artist, early childhood Jewish music educator (JCP, Creative Playschool at Fifth Avenue Synagogue, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Central Synagogue), host of J Kids Radio Show, Holiday Hang and proud Recording Academy member. For her original children’s music, she has won 1st place in the USA Songwriting Competition, Independent Music Awards, The International Songwriting Competition, several Gold Parents' Choice Awards, NAPPA Gold Awards, Family Choice Awards and is a John Lennon Songwriting Award Finalist. Joanie has played at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Clearwater Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Wolftrap, Levitt Pavilion as well Limmud UK, URJ’s Biennial, Hootenanny NYC and dozens of JCCs, Synagogues and Temples Nationwide. Her 12 albums of Jewish and secular music have been featured in The New York Times, People Magazine, Parents Magazine, Billboard, Huffington Post, NPR, The Washington Post, Times of Israel and KVELLER. 

Erica S. Perl (she/her) is the author of more than 40 popular and critically acclaimed books for children. She’s also collaborated on books with Dolly Parton and R.J. Palacio. Erica has received awards including the National Jewish Book Award and three Sydney Taylor Medals (one silver, two bronze). Her work has also graced the New York Times Best Seller list as well as multiple State Book Awards and “Best Books” lists. Erica is also an excellent baker, a cartoonist, and a relentless woozler of dogs and guinea pigs. She lives in Washington, DC. 

Alan is a cartoonist and writer who loves making funny Jewish food books for kids. P Is for Pastrami: The ABCs of Jewish Food keeps company with PJ Library favorites Meet the Latkes, Meet the Matzah and Meet the Hamantaschen. His newest book, The Bagel Who Wanted Everything will soon be followed by The Falafel Who Felt Awful and The Pickle in a Pickle. His illustrated middle-grade novel, Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze won the SCBWI Sid Fleischman Humor Award.

Alan is from Boston but happily lives in Montreal, where the bagels are the best!

Ellen Weinstein is the author and illustrator of Five Stories, published by Holiday House, 2024, the illustrator of the picture book Yayoi Kusama: From Here to Infinity, published by the Museum of Modern Art, and the author and illustrator of Recipes for Good Luck: The Superstitions, Rituals, and Practices of Extraordinary People, published by Chronicle Books. She regularly contributes to Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, amongst many others. Awards include SCBWI 2025 Crystal Kite, American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, and Global Art Directors Club.

She lectures and conducts workshops in various art schools and internationally, including the AIGA, SCBWI Japan, Ilustratour in Madrid, Spain, Congreso Internacional de Ilustracion in Bogota, Colombia, MFAStudy in Beijing, China, MiMaster Ilustrazione in Milan, Italy, Associazione Culturale Teatrio in Venice, Italy, and Amarillo Design Space in Xalapa, Mexico. Ellen is an instructor at the School of Visual Arts. Seven pieces of Ellen’s work are in the Permanent Collection of the Library of Congress. Ellen is a third-generation resident of New York’s Lower East Side, where she lives with her husband and mini-dachshund, Thilo.