Kirkpatrick Hill is an Alaskan who lives in Fairbanks. She spent more than thirty years as an elementary school teacher, the majority of it in the Alaskan bush. Hill is a grandmother of eight and the mother of six children. Toughboy and Sister, Winter Camp, and The Year of Miss Agnes are three of her best-selling novels. Dancing at the Odinochka, her fourth novel, was chosen by the Junior Library Guild.