Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Kathleen O'Neal Gear is a renowned American author, archaeologist, and historian, best known for her historical fiction and fantasy novels. Gear was born in Tulare, California, in 1954 and went on to study at the University of California State in Bakersfield, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She later earned her Master's degree from the same university, summa cum laude, and completed her Ph.D. studies at UCLA. She also studied at Jerusalem's Hebrew University in Israel.

Gear's professional life began in the basement of the Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles, where she catalogued three-hundred-year-old Guatemalan saint carvings as part of her Ph.D. coursework. However, she soon quit this job and moved to Wyoming to work for the U.S. Department of the Interior as a historian and archaeologist. During her time with the Interior Department, Gear received two Special Achievement Awards for her outstanding work in managing the cultural heritage of the US nation. She began her writing career in 1990 and has since authored or co-authored over 50 novels and around 200 non-fiction articles.

Gear is perhaps best known for co-authoring the First North Americans series with her husband, W. Michael Gear. The couple has collaborated on many of their novels and has become one of the most successful writing duos in historical fiction. In addition to her writing and archaeological work, Gear has also been honored with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for her contributions as an American archaeologist and writer. In 2019, she won the International Book Award for Best Science Fiction novel for her book MAZE MASTER. Gear and her husband live near Cody, Wyoming, and in 2021, they were jointly inducted into the Western Writers of America Hall of Fame. Most recently, they were awarded the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence in 2023.