CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH, author of On a Wing and a Tear (Heartdrum), has written books for all ages, including Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Indian Shoes, Jingle Dancer, Sisters of the Neversea, the Blue Stars series, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. She is the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids and was named an NSK Neustadt laureate. Smith is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson Inaugural Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in writing for children and young adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Austin, Texas.