Jess Rinker is an award winning writer who has several books for young readers including picture book biographies and middle grade fiction. Titles include Gloria Takes a Stand, a biography of feminist icon Gloria Steinem, Send a Girl!: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY. Middle grade novels The Dare Sisters and The Dare Sisters: Shipwrecked!, Out of Time: Lost on the Titanic, The Hike to Home and the forthcoming MONOLITH, a Wandering Moth Press endeavor.

Jess has a BA in Social Welfare and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also teaches in the University of Reno, Nevada at Lake Tahoe’s MFA program in the Writing for Children and Young Adults track, and undergrad creative writing at Centenary University in New Jersey. Most recently Jess won the Katherine Paterson Prize for The Girl in the Window and was awarded the Excellence in Teaching and Learning award for quality online course creation and teaching.​​

In addition to writing for children, Jess’s creative nonfiction has been featured in Feminine Collective, Creative Parents, Family Circle Magazine, PA Theatre Guide, Hunger Mountain, and other online publications including this recent guest blog on the Cancer Hope Network website chronicling her experience as a caregiver while living in a rural area. You can also find more of her personal work on Substack.