Paola Mendoza is an author, film director, activist, and artist working at the leading edge of human rights. A co-founder of the Women’s March, she served as its artistic director. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Glamour, Elle and InStyle. Paola is a co-founder of The Resistance Revival Chorus, The Soze Agency and The Meteor.

Abby Sher is an award-winning writer and performer. She is the author of Miss You Love You Hate You Bye, All the Ways the World Can End, Breaking Free, Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying, and Kissing Snowflakes.

RAVE REVIEWS: In addition to three starred trade reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal, Sanctuary has received glowing national coverage from the New York Times and Teen Vogue, and celebrity retweets such as America Ferrera and Eva Longoria.

HAUNTING TALE OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE: This immersive tale explores immigration and xenophobia from the point-of-view of a teenager whose family are undocumented immigrants. Swiftly told, this story puts the reader in close proximity with the terror undocumented immigrants face daily, prompting the reader to ask important questions about what it means for a human to be deemed illegal.

NEAR-FUTURE SETTING: Readers will be gripped and horrified by this world set in a distant future where there is not only a wall on the border with Mexico but also a wall blocking off California and increasingly xenophobic national policies are being enacted. The world depicted here is one scarily close to our own reality and inspired by soberingly real touchstones.

NY TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR AND CO-FOUNDER OF WOMEN'S MARCH: Paola is an accomplished film director, activist and author and this is her YA debut. Not only is she a co-founder of the Women's March but also a contributor to the New York Times bestselling book about the march, Together We Stand. Paola has been profiled by and has written for numerous magazines, companies, and online journals, which include Elle, Bustle, Estée Lauder, InStyle, Vogue, among others. As an immigrant herself and as someone who has been standing at the frontlines of immigration reform and women's rights, Paola is the perfect person to tell this story. Her writing partner is Abby Sher, an accomplished and award-winning author who has written both YA and adult nonfiction.