A native Californian, Paul Fleischman grew up working as a typesetter for his family’s hand printing press. He attended the University of California for two years before setting out to cross the country by train and bicycle. He is an author of numerous books, including works of poetry and historical fiction, and is also a musician and found-object sculptor. His father, young people’s writer Sid Fleischman, was a National Book Award Finalist in 1979 for Humbug Mountain. After living in many parts of the United States and abroad, Paul Fleischman returned to the California coast, where he now lives with his wife, Patty. They have two grown sons.