Meet the Team
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Kailei Pew, Co-Founder (she/her)
Purchase THE MONSTER ABOVE THE BED here.
Kailei Pew is a wife, mother, and children's book author represented by the amazing Emily Forney of Bookends Literary.
She writes both fiction and nonfiction picture books and middle grade novels. While her focus is on traditionally published books, she also does work for hire projects on the side, and has completed work for KiwiCo Press and Scholastic.
Kailei is an active member of SCBWI, the creator of the Kid’s Choice KidLit Writing Contest, and the co-founder of the PB Rising Stars Mentorship Program.
Kailei loves writing picture books that help kids see they can do anything they set their minds to.
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Ebony Lynn Mudd, Co-Founder (she/her)
Sign up for Ebony’s on-demand writing courses: www.thepbretreat.com
Ebony Lynn Mudd writes picture books and novels for underrepresented kids who don’t see themselves portrayed positively in the media. Her upcoming picture book, Junior Takes a Leap, will be illustrated by Pure Belpré and Coretta Scott King Honor artist C.G Esperanza and published by Scholastic.
Ebony spends her time fighting fiercely against inequalities, toxic masculinity, and gender stereotypes. As a former professional dancer and current owner of a tuition-free dance company, she is a bridge for underprivileged kids that hope to work in the arts. She’s energized by the creative freedom that choreographing moves to music gives her and often compares it to crafting stories on a blank page.
Her other interests include all-you-can-eat sushi, quoting Phoebe from the T.V. show FRIENDS, and eating anything edible that she didn’t have to cook. She is a co-founder of the PB Rising Stars Mentorship program, the creator of picture book writing courses, and sells her own writing-inspired merch through www.ebonylynnmudd.com.
Ebony is represented by Erin Murphy at Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
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Layla Fallah, Co-Director (they/them)
Layla Fallah is a Kurdish-Canadian author, artist, and advocate for diverse storytellers. They write for the kids who feel like they are either too much or not enough, and for the readers who need help finding magic in the mundane.
Layla is the 2024 Editorial & Marketing Intern at Lee & Low Books, a recipient of the 2024 Children’s Internship Grant + 2023 Walter Dean Myers Grant from We Need Diverse Books, and winner of the Trans/Nonbinary Scholarship for PB Storytellers from the Highlights Foundation. As a 2022 BookEnds Publishing Fellow, and an inaugural mentee of the 2022 PB Rising Stars Mentorship, Layla is wholeheartedly committed to building ladders, ramps, and bigger tables (metaphorically) to make publishing more accessible to diverse creators.
Currently, Layla is a co-director of the PB Rising Stars Mentorship, an active member of AALA (Association of American Literary Agents), and assistant to Emily Forney & James McGowan at BookEnds Literary Agency. When they’re not reading or editing manuscripts, you can find Layla painting Kurdistan, planting seeds, or collecting picture books from the local public library.
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Trenise Sabin, Co-Director (she/her)
Trenise is a Jamaican-American writer who loves storytelling, especially for young readers. When she was in third grade, her teacher said that she should write books when she grew up—and it appears Mrs. Buckner was clairvoyant because here we are! Writing books! Wonder and imagination are at the heart of her stories, creating worlds where children can get lost between the pages, laugh, and learn along the way.
Trenise especially loves writing stories where black children can see themselves having adventures, getting into mischief, learning about their ancestry, and finding joy and purpose.
An active SCBWI Los Angeles chapter member, Trenise is also a graduate of the Children’s Book Academy and The Voice Roadmap writing programs. She was selected as an inaugural mentee for the 2022 Picture Book Rising Stars program and was a 2023 We Need Diverse Books mentee. She also won the SCBWI 2023 Ann Whitford Paul Most Promising Manuscript (Fiction) Award, SCBWI 2023 Best Work In Progress (Chapter Book) Award, and took first place in the 2023 Black Voices in Kidlit writing contest.
When not writing for children, Trenise loves creating stories where adult characters have hilarious and ridiculous meet-cutes, make a lot of messes, and get it wrong a whole bunch of times before finally getting it right and having their happily ever after.