Growing up between swamps, a river, and the Gulf Coast, Candice Marley Conner’s stories emerge from gnarled cypress knees, muddy water, and salty air. She is the kidlit haint at a haunted indie bookstore (but not haunted how you’re thinking), a Local Liaison for SCBWI, and an officer for her local writer’s guild. Her short stories and poems are in various anthologies and magazines including Smarty Pants Magazine for Kids, Highlights Hello, Cabinet of Curiosities, Under the Full Moon’s Light, Babybug, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and more. Her next picture book, M IS FOR MOON PIES: ABCs IN THE BIRTHPLACE OF MARDI GRAS releases January 2023. Her picture books, SASSAFRAS AND HER TEENY TINY TAIL, CHOMPSEY CHOMPS BOOKS, and her YA Southern mystery, THE EXISTENCE OF BEA PEARL, all came out in 2021. She lives in Alabama with her husband and two children (one of whom is possibly feral, and definitely a velociraptor).Candice is represented by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management.