A columnist and reviewer for ALA’s Booklist magazine, Michael Cart is a nationally known expert in the fields of young adult literature, LGBTQ literature, and adult books for young adults. He is the author or editor of twenty-three books including My Father’s Scar, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism, the 3rd edition published in 2016. A former president of both YALSA and ALAN, Cart taught young adult literature at UCLA and lectures widely on the subject. He is the recipient of the 2000 Grolier Award and the 2008 YALSA/Greenwood Publishing Group Service to Young Adults Achievement Award. He lives in Columbus, Indiana.