Dashka Slater is the recipient of a 2004 Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her novel, The Wishing Box (Chronicle, 2000), was named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, which called it “an impish novel, hopeful and full of humor.” She is the author of three widely-praised children's books, Baby Shoes, Firefighters in the Dark, and The Sea Serpent and Me. A fourth, Princess Amanita and the Nine Noses, will be released in 2010.

Slater is also an award-winning journalist who has written for such publications as More, Salon, Mother Jones, Sierra, The New York Times Magazine and The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine.

Her book about Hollywood’s portrayal of Alcatraz Island, Lights, Camera, Alcatraz! was released in October 2005. She is currently working on a collection of short stories. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and son.