Author, essayist, and poet Dia Calhoun won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature for her novel Aria of the Sea. Three of her eight novels are American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. Calhoun’s contemporary novel Eva of the Farm was a Hornbook Magazine Best Verse Novel. Reviewing Calhoun’s most recent book, After the River the Sun School Library Journal wrote—“Lovers of gaming and Arthurian legends will thoroughly enjoy this one.” Calhoun’s 7:30 BELLS blog essays explore creativity and inspiration.

Calhoun is a cofounder of the literacy social media project, readergirlz, recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize. Calhoun has taught at Seattle University and the Cornish College of Arts. She currently offers private coaching in writing to kids and adults. Calhoun lives beside the wild Nisqually River in Washington state. Not only does the natural world inspire her writing, it’s also the basis for her new work as a sculptor.