Cynthia Leitich Smith is a New York Times bestselling author of fifteen books for young readers. Her latest release, Hearts Unbroken, won an American Indian Youth Literature Award and received the Foreword Reviews Silver Medal in YA Fiction. She is also the author of the Tantalize series, the Feral trilogy and award-winning children’s books like Jingle Dancer and Indian Shoes. Plus, Cynthia is the author-curator for Heartdrum, a Native focused imprint of HarperChildren’s. She is on the faculty for the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in Austin, Texas.