Cynthia Leitich Smith is a best-selling and award-winning children's and YA writer, who was born in 1967 in Kansas City. She is a member of the faculty at the Vermont College MFA program in writing for young adults and children. Smith is of Muscogee heritage and has made significant contributions to children's literature, particularly in the representation of Native voices and stories.
Smith's latest book is the YA novel, Harvest House, an Indigenous ghost mystery, which has received critical acclaim with three starred reviews. She is also looking forward to the release of Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem, the first book in The Blue Stars graphic novel series for middle-grade readers, which she co-authored with Kekla Magoon and is illustrated by Molly Murakami. Her recent releases include the middle-grade anthology Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, and the middle-grade novel Sisters of the Neversea. Ancestor Approved received four starred reviews, won the Reading of the West Young Readers Book Award, and was named to several best books lists in 2021. Sisters of the Neversea received six starred reviews and was also named to multiple best books lists in 2021.
Smith's debut picture book, Jingle Dancer, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu, is widely considered a modern classic. Her debut tween novel, Rain is Not My Indian Name, was named one of the 30 Most Influential Children's Books of All Time by Book Riot, which also listed her as one of 10 Must-Read Native American Authors. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the American Indian Youth Literature Award for Young Adult Books for Hearts Unbroken, which was also named to YALSA's Amelia Bloomer list and received the Foreword Reviews Silver Medal in Young Adult Fiction. Smith is also the New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestselling YA author of the Tantalize series and Feral trilogy.
Smith lives in Austin, Texas, and is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and a J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, where she studied law abroad at Paris-Sorbonne University. Smith has received numerous accolades for her work, including being named one of 100 Children's Authors and Illustrators Everyone Should Know by Reading Rockets, the 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner, and the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperCollins.