Malinda Lo

She writes fiction centering the lives of queer women and girls. She is a New York Times bestselling author, winner of the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and dozens of other honors. When asked what drives her as a writer, she explained: "My goal — subconscious at first, increasingly conscious today — has been to take story types that have traditionally excluded lesbians and bisexual women and change them into narratives where being queer is natural, universal. This metamorphosis is about reimagining the world to include people like me." Class of 1996.