Mvto for visiting my author site! I’m grateful for your enthusiasm and support. I’ve been publishing books, short stories, essays, and poetry for young readers since 2000, and it’s an honor to craft stories for such an important audience. As of 2025, you can find more than 20 of my books in bookstores and libraries, and I have six more in various stages of production. Below you’ll find bios for various audiences, including kids, teens, and grown-ups as well as fun facts and a list of my upcoming titles.
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Mvskoke Nation) is the 2026 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Winner, a two-time American Indian Youth Literature [Young Adult] Award winner, a 2026 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Candidate, a NSK Neustadt Laureate, Southern Miss Medallion winner, Texas Literary Hall of Fame inductee, and the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperChildren’s. Cynthia also has been named to deliver the 2026 ALSC Children’s Literature Lecture. She’s a New York Times bestselling author, and her latest titles include HERE COME THE AUNTIES!, FIREFLY SEASON, and LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN: INTERTRIBAL STORIES.
Cynthia Leitich Smith is a bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Here Come the Aunties!, Firefly Season, Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neversea, the Blue Stars series (with Kekla Magoon), Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is also the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids and Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, which won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, and the American Indian Youth Literature Award. She has been honored with the American Library Association’s Children’s Literature Lecture Award and has been named the NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperChildren’s, and served as the Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Denton, Texas.
Cynthia Leitich Smith grew up in the Kansas City area and has loved writing since she was a kid! She started out as a poet and a news reporter in elementary school and grew into the editor of her middle school and high school newspapers. She was the first person in her family to graduate from a four-year college, earning her bachelor’s degree at the University of Kansas, and then she went on to get a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
Today Cynthia is a writing teacher and a writer who creates books for kids. She also helps other authors share their stories.
Cynthia is a citizen of Mvskoke Nation, but she lives in Denton, Texas with her two rescued Chihuahuas, Gnocchi and Orzo, who keep her company while she writes.
Cynthia Leitich Smith grew up in the Kansas City area and found her passion for writing early on as the editor of her middle school and high school newspapers. She’s a first-generation college graduate with a journalism degree from the University of Kansas and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. She also studied law abroad in Paris.
Today, Cynthia is an award-winning, bestselling author. She’s also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins. As a citizen of the Muscogee Nation, an Indigenous Nation based in Oklahoma, she
Cynthia is a citizen of Mvskoke Nation, but she lives in Denton, Texas with her two rescued Chihuahuas, Gnocchi and Orzo, who keep her company while she writes.
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Mvskoke Nation) is the 2026 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Winner, a two-time American Indian Youth Literature [Young Adult] Award winner, a 2026 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Candidate, a NSK Neustadt Laureate, Southern Miss Medallion winner, Texas Literary Hall of Fame inductee, and the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperChildren’s. Cynthia also has been named to deliver the 2026 ALSC Children’s Literature Lecture. She’s a New York Times bestselling author, and her latest titles include HERE COME THE AUNTIES!, FIREFLY SEASON, and LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN: INTERTRIBAL STORIES.
Reading Rockets also named her to its list of “100 Children’s Authors and Illustrators Everyone Should Know.”
Her debut picture book, JINGLE DANCER, is a modern classic, while her chapter book INDIAN SHOES was among the first children’s titles to represent urban Native life. 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 among “10 Must-Read Native American Authors.” Cynthia was also named Writer of the Year by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME.
Her books include HEARTS UNBROKEN, winner of both an American Indian Youth Literature Award and a Foreword Reviews Book Award Silver Medal; the anthology ANCESTOR APPROVED: INTERTRIBAL STORIES FOR KIDS, an ALA Notable Book and winner of the Reading the West Book Award; SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA, which received six starred reviews; and HARVEST HOUSE, a Bram Stoker Award® Nominee for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel.
ON A WING AND A TEAR was named to Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the 21rst Century (So Far) and a Sid Fleischman Award for Humor Honor Book. The BLUE STARS graphic novel series is a Junior Library Guild Selection and named to ALA Best Graphic Novels for Kids. In a starred review of FIREFLY SEASON, Publishers Weekly cheered for “…longing, love, and the blessing of found sisterhood;” and LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN: INTERTRIBAL STORIES, which won the both American Indian Youth Literature Award and the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. The collection also received an Odyssey Honor Award for audiobooks.
Additionally, Cynthia is the New York Times and Publishers Weekly best-selling YA author of the Gothic fantasy FERAL trilogy and TANTALIZE series. These novels were published by Candlewick Press in the U.S., Walker Books in the U.K. and Australia/New Zealand, and other publishers worldwide.
Cynthia has been featured twice at the National Book Festival. Her titles have been honored among New York Public Library Best Books, Chicago Public Library Best Books, Kirkus Reviews Best Books, Publishers Weekly Best Books, Shelf Awareness Best Books, American Indians in Children’s Literature Best Books, Parents Magazine Best Books, Notable Children’s Trade Books in Social Studies, Indie Next List picks, Politics & Prose Best Books, Oklahoma Book Award finalists, NEA Choices, CCBC Choices, Bank Street Choices, Children’s Crown List selections, YALSA Popular Paperbacks, the Amelia Bloomer List, Writers’ League of Texas award winners, TLA Spirit of Texas (YA) choices, and more. In addition to fiction, she has published children’s poetry, short stories, and narrative nonfiction essays.
Cynthia was named the inaugural Spirit of Texas Young Adult author by the Young Adult Round Table of the Texas Library Association and the first young adult author honored with the Illumine Award by the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation. The Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators instituted the Cynthia Leitich Smith Mentor Award in her honor. She is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
For nearly twenty years, she served on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, where she held the inaugural Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair.
Cynthia graduated with degrees in news/editorial and public relations from the White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1990, and from the University of Michigan Law School in 1994. At Michigan Law, she was a co-founder and senior editor of The Michigan Journal of Gender & Law and the president of the Native American Law Students Association. She studied law abroad in Paris, France, during the summer of 1991 at Paris-Sorbonne University in conjunction with Tulane University Law School.
Cynthia has served on the advisory board of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and both the advisory board and honorary advisory board of We Need Diverse Books. She currently coordinates the organization’s annual Native writing intensive.
Her website, cynthialeitichsmith.com, was named one of the “Top 10 Writer Sites on the Internet” by Writer’s Digest and an ALA Great Website for Kids. Her Cynsations digital magazine was listed among the top two read by the children’s/YA publishing community in the SCBWI “To Market” column. School Library Journal praised Cynsations, saying, “If you read only one blog, this is it!”
Cynthia joined Authors Against Book Bans in 2024. She is a member of the Advisory Group for the 2027 exhibition The Precious Things We Share: The Past, Present, and Future of Indigenous Picture Book Art at the Eric Carle Museum. She is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperCollins. She is primarily published by Heartdrum and Candlewick Press.
Cynthia was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She has lived in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas. A citizen of the Muscogee Nation, she resides in Denton, Texas.
HERE COME THE AUNTIES!, illustrated by Aphelandra Messner (Heartdrum, winter 2026): contemporary picture book.
HERE COME THE GRANDMAS!, illustrated by Aphelandra Messner (Heartdrum, winter 2027): contemporary picture book.
BLUE STARS series: MISSION TWO: THE COMMUNITY CRISIS, co-authored by Kekla Magoon, illustrated by Molly Murakami (Candlewick, spring 2026): superhero graphic novel.
BLUE STARS series: MISSION THREE: THE DEMOCRACY DILEMMA, co-authored by Kekla Magoon, illustrated by Molly Murakami (Candlewick, TBA): superhero graphic novel.
BAD APPLES (Heartdrum, spring 2029): YA thriller novel.
RED CLAY LOVE (Heartdrum, spring 2029): contemporary YA novel.
Cynthia learned how to read on superhero and science fiction comic books. Her favorite comic characters (in no particular order) are Spider-Man (both Miles Morales and Peter Parker), Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Batman’s butler Alfred, Bat Girl (Barbara Gordon), Robin (Tim Drake), Loki, Peggy Carter, Groot, Rocket, Valkyrie, Kate Bishop, and Ms. Marvel.
Cynthia has seen “Star Wars” (1977) in the movie theater over 180 times. Her favorite character is R2D2.
Cynthia’s favorite book from childhood was THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND by Elizabeth George Speare (1958), and Cynthia’s love of the novel is mentioned in the foreword by Karen Cushman that appears in the paperback edition (Clarion, 2011).
Cynthia bought her first car (a 1968 Mustang Coupe) at age 16 for $2,000 with money she made babysitting between age 12 and age 15 at a dollar an hour.
Cynthia studied law abroad in Paris, France.
Cynthia’s favorite food is tacos.
Cynthia is a Free Little Library steward.
When Cynthia has writer’s block, she dances around her home to the soundtrack of the “Xanadu” movie.
Cynthia had a lot of jobs before becoming an author. In her teens and twenties, she worked as a cashier at a gas station, in concessions at a movie-theater, as food server at a chain Tex-Mex restaurant, as a food server at an athletic club, as a receptionist at a law firm, as a telephone switchboard operator at a bank, as a news-reporting intern (at small town, mid-size, and big-city newspapers), as a public relations intern (at an oil company, a greeting-card company, and a non-profit organization), as an editorial assistant at a major university, as an English Composition tutor at a private college, and as a law clerk (for legal aid in Hawaii, for a small, gender-rights law firm, and for both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration).
Cynthia’s original children’s writing teacher is Newbery Honor Author and National Book Award Finalist Kathi Appelt. Kathi’s book THE UNDERNEATH is dedicated to Cynthia, and Cynthia’s book, ETERNAL: ZACHARY’S STORY is dedicated to Kathi.
Other books dedicated to Cynthia include THE HIGHEST TRIBUTE: THURGOOD MARSHALL’S LIFE, LEADERSHIP, AND LEGACY by Kekla Magoon and Laura Freeman, PROM BABIES by Kekla Magoon, FIRE TRUCK VS. DRAGON by Chris Barton and Shanda McCloskey, FAR OUT! by Anne Bustard, DIDI DODO, FUTURE SPY: ROBO-DODO RUMBLE (DIDI DODO, FUTURE SPY #2)(THE FLYTRAP FILES) by Tom Angleberger, PEPPERMINT COCOA CRUSHES by Laney Nielson, NINJAS, PIRANHAS AND GALILEO by Greg Leitich Smith, and a book in THE GODDESS GIRLS series by Suzanne Williams and Joan Holub.
