Meet the Authors

Charlotte Riggle is the award-winning author of Catherine's Pascha and its companion, The Saint Nicholas Day Snow. She's also an accessibility professional and a disability inclusion advocate. 

When her children were young, she did all the ordinary things that mothers do: reading stories, supervising homework and chores, taking the kids to church, and feeling quite certain she would never get enough sleep ever again. 

She did less ordinary things, too, like revising 504 plans, attending IEP meetings, and training a service dog for one of her kids. She lives with her family between the ocean and a volcano in the Pacific Northwest. 

Location: Pacific Northwest

Dylan Emmons is a writer, educator, and public speaker living in Poughkeepsie , New York.  Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at age six,  Emmons often writes and speaks about his experiences living with Autism with the goal of promoting understanding for and improving the quality of life of individuals on the Autism Spectrum.  His memoir Living in Two Worlds: On Being a Social Chameleon with Asperger’s was published by Jessica Kinglsey Publishers. 

Location: Poughkeepsie, New York

Young adult/new adult multi-genre author Cait Marie has enjoyed reading and creating stories her entire life. Her 2020 fantasy debut, The Lost Legends, encompasses her love of fairy tales and adventure while her following book, The Last Summer, shows her appreciation for fluffy-but-moving contemporary romance.  In the time since, she has continued publishing in both genres and has plans to expand into science fiction, steampunk, and dystopian worlds. ​ 

Cait is the creator and manager of the book blog Functionally Fictional, works for YA Books Central, and offers a variety of author services, including editing, proofreading, formatting, and graphic design. She has a BA in forensic psychology and is currently working toward her MFA in creative writing. ​ Basically, her life revolves around books, but she also enjoys music, bullet journaling, digital art, and Disney movies.

Location: Crawfordsville, IN

I have spent my life knowing two sure things about myself. One, that I have an intrinsic need to create, and two, that I experience the world differently from those around me. I have a movement disorder called generalized dystonia, which means that my brain sends incorrect signals to my muscles, causing them to tense and spasm uncontrollably and often painfully. 

The pain and experiences that I live with are quiet, they are easy to hide, and people often mistake this to mean that they don’t exist at all. It’s easy to dismiss things that are out of sight, so my hope with this collection was to put the silent experiences of the undercover sufferer into the hands of the everyday person. It was my goal to properly communicate an experience and a type of pain that is difficult to imagine if you’ve never lived in it. 

Disability can be isolating, lonely, and emotionally exhausting, and it’s encouraging to see yourself and your experiences in literature. There is no question of whether we should work to normalize disabled experiences or leave them in the shadows, we only stand to benefit from bringing light to disabled experiences.

Location: Corpus Christi, Texas

Tylia Flores is a 26-year-old born with cerebral palsy. Although her condition has affected her mobility, it has never affected her will and determination to make a difference in the world. Through her many life challenges and obstacles, she discovered her passion for writing. Tylia’s goal in life is to share her stories with the world. In doing so, she hopes to help others with disabilities realize that they, too, have the potential to make their dreams come true. ​ 

"We need more awareness about disabilities in literature so that young children, teenagers, and even adults with disabilities don’t feel isolated from society. Having more discussion and literature that brings up the topic of self-identifying and acceptance when it comes to people with disabilities, as well as the different types of disabilities that exist, could help reduce bullying in schools. This is because students would be more aware of people with disabilities and have a better understanding that would help them adapt to communicating with people in society that have disabilities." -Tylia Flores

Winslow Dixon, author of multiple books and CEO of the Adrenal Alternatives Foundation, currently volunteers her time as an advocate for those suffering with chronic illness and rare disease as a representative in the US Congress Rare Disease Legislative Caucus. 

She is a passionate motivational speaker and has dedicated her life to spreading hope to those who are suffering from rare diseases. She also works in holistic health and helps her clients achieve better quality of life through lifestyle modifications, circadian rhythm modulation and frequency healing through her small business, Hope Healing Happy Co.       

In addition to her books, Winslow publishes articles on websites such as Yahoo News, Yahoo Lifestyle and The Mighty.  Her poetry work has also been featured in many publications such as the Emerging American Fiction Writers Anthology and Florida’s Emerging Poets. 

She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Traditional Chinese medicine and plans to continue providing cortisol care to adrenal disease patients. Her goal is to serve as a medical provider in the only cortisol care center in the United States. 

Location: Fort Myers, Florida