Denise Lewis Patrick is an author, poet and essayist. She’s written over thirty books for young people, including fiction, historical fiction and biography, as well as the YA collection, A Matter of Souls. She’s also a contributor to the children’s anthology We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices. Her essays “Housecoats and Hairnets,” (Persimmontree) and “The First Boy,” (Herstry) have appeared online. In addition to her current part-time gig as an adjunct writing instructor, she’s working on an adult story collection about characters in a small Louisiana town, and a soap opera comic book featuring the cloth dolls she’s created.