Esther Allen Peterson is the author of several books, the first of which won a Christopher Award. She became interested in the lives of the original homesteaders in America when her minister husband served four churches in North Dakota. She began to write historical fiction about two families who immigrated to the U.S. from Norway to become homesteaders, which ultimately became the Homesteaders series of books. She is a storyteller in the style of Willa Cather; her stories are not true, but they are real. Esther’s passion is writing, but she also loves to share her interest in the early homesteaders at schools, historical societies, libraries, churches, and community gatherings.