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Cynthia Leitich Smith

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Cynthia Leitich Smith is a New York Times best-selling author of fiction for children and young adults. A member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, she writes fiction for children centered on the lives of modern-day American Indians. She also writes picture books and YA gothic fantasies. She hosts a website for Children's Literature Resources.

Smith, a graduate of the University of Kansas and The University of Michigan Law School, lives in Austin, Texas. She is a faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts, teaching in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. She was named the inaugural Katherine Paterson Chair in 2020. In addition, she was the winner of the 2021 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature.

Her debut,
Jingle Dancer
, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award, runner-up for the Western Writers Association Storyteller Award, and Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.

Rain is Not My Indian Name
also was an Oklahoma Book Award finalist and earned Cynthia the title of 2001 Writer of the Year from Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.

Indian Shoes
has been named a Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters Award, to the 2003 Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College of Education; and to Choices 2003, Cooperative Children's Book Center. It also was named to the NEA Native American Book List and the 2004-2005 Crown List.

Smith's first upper YA novel,
Tantalize
, was named a Borders Original Voices Nominee in March 2007.

Hearts Unbroken
was named winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award by the American Indian Library Association.

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Cynthia Leitich Smith

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Books from Cynthia Leitich Smith

Tantalize

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd

Violent Ends

Immortal: Love Stories with Bite

Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories

Hearts Unbroken

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

Diabolical

Haunted Love

Jingle Dancer

Rain Is Not My Indian Name

Cat Calls

Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves

Indian Shoes

Things I'll Never Say: Stories About Our Secret Selves

Santa Knows

Angels, Vampires, and Zombies: Exclusive Candlewick Press Sampler

Violent Ends

Our Story Begins: Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring, and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids

Feral Curse (Feral, #2)