Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Kathleen O'Neal Gear is a nationally award-winning archaeologist, historian, and New York Times bestselling author or co-author of 53 novels. There are 18 million copies of her work in print in 29 languages. She's been inducted into three halls of fame: the Women Who Write the West Hall of Fame, the Western Writers Hall of Fame, and the California State University Hall of Fame.

In 2007, along with her husband W. Michael Gear, she received the “Literary Contribution Award” from the Mountain Plains Library Association, and in 2015, she was honored by the United States Congress with a “Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition.”

In 2021, Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear jointly received the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in western literature.