Dana discovered his love for writing poetry during his service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He became the first in his family to attend college. He enrolled at Drake University on the GI Bill and supported himself as a sportswriter for the Des Moines Register. Later, he honed his art at the University of Iowa Writers’ workshop, graduating with a master’s degree in 1954. Dana served as Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa from 1954-1994. In 2004 he was selected as Poet Laureate of Iowa.

Stephen G. Bloom began his writing career as a journalist for The Los Angeles Times and Dallas Morning News. His critically acclaimed book Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America was a Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperbacks Book Club selection, and was named a Best Book of the Year by MS-NBC, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Rocky Mountain News, and Denver Post.

Anne Ylvisaker is the author of Little Klein, winner of the Midwest Bookseller's Association Choice Award,and Dear Papa, a 2002 Top Ten Youth First Novel, both from Candlewick Press. In 2005, Anne was awarded the McKnight Artist Fellowship/Loft Award in Children's Literature. She taught school for many years and holds a master's degree in education.

Anne has lived her life near rivers, growing up near the Mississippi in Minneapolis and spending much of her adult life just across the river in St. Paul. She now lives and writes in Cedar Rapids with her husband Dan Baldwin and daughter Maria.