Award-winning author Laurel Goodluck writes picture books with modern themes that reflect Native children’s cultural experiences and everyday life, showing they have a unique and powerful perspective. Her books include Forever Cousins, Rock Your Mocs, She Persisted: Deb Haaland, Too Much, Yáadilá!: Good Grief!, and Fierce Aunties!. Laurel was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She comes from an intertribal background; is an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation; and is an Alaskan Native Citizen of the Tsimshian Tribe. She received a BA in psychology and an MA in community counseling and family studies from the University of New Mexico. Laurel began writing by crafting a curriculum for community advocacy involving Native teen leadership and later for children newly diagnosed with mental health challenges. Laurel lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her Navajo husband, where they raised two sons who are also bent on storytelling. Please follow her on @LaurieGoodluck on Instagram.
Steph Littlebird is an enrolled member of Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and earned her BFA in painting and printmaking from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in Portland, Oregon. She is the illustrator of My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom and Fierce Aunties! by Laurel Goodluck. Littlebird is known for her vibrant imagery that combines traditional styles of her Indigenous ancestors with contemporary illustration aesthetics. Her work often examines issues related to Native identity, cultural resilience, and responsible land stewardship. She currently lives and works in Las Vegas.