Shannon Stocker
Multi-award-winning author Shannon Stocker has written the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection YA novel, The Roach King of Raleigh (and recently picked Best Book of 2026 So Far by Amazon editors), and SCBWI Midsouth Crystal Kite Honor YA, Stronger at the Seams. She’s also authored such picture books as the ALA Schneider Family Award winner, Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion, Can You Save the Day, and Warrior: A Patient’s Courageous Quest. Shannon is a fierce advocate for children with disabilities; her daughter is a cancer warrior, her son is neurodivergent, and she is a Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy patient who completed medical school.
Cool facts: Shannon is a coma survivor, a musician, and once performed two songs (including one original) as part of an opening act for Blake Shelton. Upcoming books include picture books Get A Hug, Your Why (illustrated by Stocker’s Schneider Family Award partner Devon Holzwarth), and more. Shannon lives in Louisville with her husband Greg, her children Cassidy and Tye, a hidden stash of dark chocolate, and way too many critters.
Featured Book
The Roach King of Raleigh
From Schneider Family Award-winning author Shannon Stocker comes The Roach King of Raleigh, an unflinching YA novel about a high school sophomore who’s determined to rise above his circumstances—even if it means starting a secret roach breeding business. Even if it means letting people in.
Quill Jenkins used to have a great life: a picture-perfect family, a big house in a nice neighborhood, and a best friend he could count on. But then his friend moved away, his brother left for college, and his dad’s drinking caused his parents to split. Now Quill and his mom live in a broken-down rental house owned by a neglectful landlord, who also happens to be the father of Quill’s high school nemesis.
More than anything, Quill wants to save enough money for a new house, but his mom refuses to let him get a job. So when he finds a hidden attic space inside his closet, then overhears the pet store owner arguing with a delinquent roach breeder, an idea is born. He strikes a deal and starts breeding roaches in the hidden room, reluctantly working with his classmate Harley and Harley’s twin sister, Zuri, to keep the whole operation a secret.
But as the roach business takes off, new complications arise: his dad’s condition steadily worsens, his beloved neighbor Mr. Dave suddenly goes MIA, and Quill learns that the truth has a way of creeping into the light.
Meet Shannon Stocker and get a copy of their book at the 2026 Kentucky Book Festival, Saturday, November 7, 2026, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.