Colby Cedar Smith grew up in the Midwest, and she still dreams of the cold northern woods and the smell of lake water. She holds degrees from Colorado College and Harvard University, and has spent the last fifteen years teaching creative writing and storytelling workshops in schools, art museums, community centers, and corporations. Colby has been a finalist for over twenty poetry prizes including The Iowa Review Poetry Award, the New Letters Poetry Prize, the Colorado Prize for Poetry; and a semi-finalist for the 92Y “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Prize. Her debut novel in verse, Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit (Andrews McMeel, 2021) is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection Standard Selection; an American Booksellers Association Indie Next Pick; a #1 Amazon August New Release in 20th Century Historical Fiction, and Teen Poetry; a Cybils Award Poetry Finalist; a 2021 Goodreads Choice Best Poetry Nominee; a 2022 Michigan Notable Book; a 2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards Silver medal for YA Fiction; a 2022 Silver Nautilus Award for Lyric Prose; and A Kid's Book Choice Nominee for Stellar Storytelling. Facebook: @ColbyCedarSmith Instagram: @Colby_Cedar_Smith Twitter:@ColbyCedar Website: http://www.colbycedarsmith.com/