Kate DiCamillo is an American author whose award-winning children’s books have captured the hearts of thousands across the world. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kate suffered from chronic pneumonia, which then prompted her mother and brother to move her to Clermont, Florida, the age five. She later received a B.A. in English from the University of Florida, and took on various short-term jobs after graduation. One of those jobs included working in a book warehouse, where she fell deeply in love with children’s books. Her first book, Because of Winn-Dixie [2000], was received extraordinarily well and was later awarded the Newbery Honor. Since her success with Because of Winn-Dixie, Kate has written multiple other children’s books, including two Newbery Medal-awarded books, The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread [2004] and Flora and Ulysses [2014], as well as The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane [2006], which was awarded the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. Kate currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota and thinks of herself as being an “enormously lucky person” in that she is able to tell stories for a living.