Yvonne Wakim Dennis won awards for her writing as a teenager and kept her passion alive by penning articles, grants and newsletters for the American Indian agencies where she has worked throughout her adult life. In the early 90's she was stricken with a chronic illness which made it impossible for her to work full time. However, the disease liberated her to return to her love of writing and presented an opportunity to author books with co-writer and friend, Arlene Hirschfelder. Dennis draws on her multicultural background for many of her ideas. She is American Indian/Arab, grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended college in southwestern Ohio during the 60's. She has been at home in multi-ethnic neighborhoods in New Jersey cities and suburbs and has lived on Manhattan's upper west side for almost 30 years. For over 10 years, Dennis has pursued her dream of helping build a strong and supportive urban American Indian community. She is the co-coordinator of a holistic preventative mental health program for American Indian families.

Most of Dennis' books are creative non-fiction about contemporary American Indian life, but she has other projects in the works, too. They include a children's book highlighting diversity in American cities; bios for kids on famous designers and artists, short stories about New York City American Indian women and a quirky and smart novel for kids. She is extremely concerned about the current trend of "dumbing down" to kids in children's books. When Dennis was a child, her family opted to not have a television. Instead, she was trusted to read anything and everything (except comic books and Modern Romance!), looking up unfamiliar words. She feels that today's kids should be challenged by attention-grabbing literature and respected enough to understand a variety of ideas and information. Yvonne Wakim Dennis is part of the Bank Street Writers Lab, which helps her maintain discipline with all her writing, especially unsold works that don't have deadlines! She also serves as a multicultural consultant and workshop facilitator. Dennis loves the energy, sights and smells of Manhattan, but enjoys her house in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains where she can breathe clean fresh air and sing along with the crickets and cardinals.

For more infomation, visit www.yvonnewakimdennis.com .