Art Coulson is a writer of Cherokee, English and Dutch descent and comes from a family of storytellers in all three traditions. A Navy brat, Art traveled the world, attending 14 schools on three continents before graduating high school. Art served as the first executive director of the Wilma Mankiller Foundation in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma after an award-winning 25-year career in journalism. The 2023 McKnight Fellow in Children’s Literature, Art is the author of 20 books, graphic novels and plays, including middle grade chapter book, The Reluctant Storyteller; the middle grade novel, Chasing Bigfoot; the STEM picture book, Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! and the forthcoming picture book, All the Stars in the Skies (Simon & Schuster, October 2025). The Reluctant Storyteller was named a best book of 2020 by Bank Street. Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! was named a best STEM children’s book by the National Science Teaching Association in 2022 and featured on the inaugural broadcast of Reading Rainbow Live. Art is a teaching artist at the Loft Literary Center and leads the Native Authors Program at All My Relations Arts, both in Minneapolis. Art is represented by Jacqui Lipton at The Tobias Literary Agency.