Author Bio

About the author

Leslie K Simmons writes Historical Fiction about people in the center of defining moments in American history. Her debut novel, Red Clay, Running Waters uses the power of story to illuminate behind the scenes, exploring how a past we didn’t live shapes the lives we live today.

Leslie grew up in Philadelphia, following in the footsteps of the founding fathers, aspiring to be a Williamsburg reenactor. A lifelong reader and lover of all things historical, she is fascinated by the lessor known lives of those who changed history. After decades of research into the Five Civilized Tribes, Indian Removal, the Ridge family, and the Antebellum Era, Leslie followed a path marked by serendipities to the book she knew she had to write.

Leslie has taught a course on Native Americans of the Southeast, restored two 19th Century houses (one award winning), and holds a degree in Anthropology and Art. Her influences range from 19th C writers – George Eliot and Dickens being her favorite – alongside such authors as Anya Seton, Dorothy Dunnett, and Sharon Kay Penman. Her favorite contemporary authors include Barbara Kingsolver, Louise Erdrich, and Geraldine Brooks. She has been a member of the Trail of Tears Association since 1999, belongs to the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and the Historical Novel Society. She is also a contributing moderator for the American Historical Novels Facebook group.

She lives in New Zealand with her husband of forty years and their cat Zero.