Rebecca Bendheim is the author of the middle grade novels WHEN YOU’RE BRAVE ENOUGH and HOW TO TAKE A RISK, a former middle school teacher, and a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Vermont College of Fine Arts’s MFA program in writing for children and young adults. She has performed her poetry on NPR and types poems around the country with Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo poetry troupe.

She lives in Austin with her partner, an orange cat, and a chorgi (chihuahua-corgi) puppy. Rebecca has bungee jumped, skydived, and swam with sharks, but the bravest thing she’s ever done is put all her deepest emotions into books.