Short Bio

Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in creative writing from USF, and BA in art from Scripps College. She’s the author of numerous award winning, best-selling children’s and young adult books including Love in the Library, The Mermaid the Witch and The Sea duology, Squad, and The Worst Ronin. She has been called “... one of the most unflinching voices in contemporary genre literature.”

Maggie is a founding member and national leader of Authors Against Book Bans. She is the co-host of the Failure to Adapt podcast. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband, children, and objectively perfect dog.

Less Helpful but More Honest Bio

Maggie Tokuda-Hall is afraid of the dark. She found chapter books very intimidating as a kid, and so she read comic books and Goosebumps almost exclusively from third through fifth grade. The books that most affect the way she thinks about the world are Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson and The Parable of the Sower and The Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. One time she bit into a jalapeño popper that was too hot and it dripped cheese on her knuckle and burned her so badly she still has a scar and even after a life of poor choices this is still, somehow, her most impressive scar. She enjoys sitting in direct sunlight, noodles, and reading books with her kids. She writes books for kids and teens and adults who remember being kids and teens.