Donna Janell Bowman is the author of Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness, which earned many awards and accolades, including three starred reviews, the South Dakota Prairie Pasque Award, a Carter G. Woodson Award Honor from NCSS, an NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommendation, an ALA Notable Book designation, a JLG Selection, and nominations for eight state book awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Her 2018 release, Abraham Lincoln’s Dueling Words, was named a Junior Library Guild Selection and an NCSS Notable Book, and it was nominated for two state book awards. King of the Tightrope: When the Great Blondin Ruled Niagara, a STEAM-inspired picture book biography, released from Peachtree Publishers in 2019 and was included on Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year List. Her forthcoming co-authored autobiographical picture book with Oglala Lakota Olympian Billy Mills, Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills, will publish with Little, Brown and Company, and will be illustrated by acclaimed Native illustrator S.D. Nelson. Donna has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and enjoys speaking at schools, mentoring writers, and uncovering hidden histories. She lives near Austin, Texas, and is represented by Erin Murphy Literary Agency.