Steve Sheinkin author page

Steve Sheinkin Biography

Steve Sheinkin is an American author acclaimed for his nonfiction books for young readers, which present historical events with narrative drive and meticulous research. His works have earned numerous accolades, including a Newbery Honor, the Sibert Medal, three Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, and three National Book Award finalist honors.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sheinkin spent his early years in Mississippi and Colorado before his family settled in the suburbs north of New York City. He studied communications and international relations at Syracuse University. During college, he spent a summer in Central America working on a documentary in Managua, Nicaragua. Following graduation, he worked for the National Audubon Society in Washington, D.C., and later moved to Austin, Texas, to collaborate with his brother on filmmaking projects, including the feature film A More Perfect Union (1995).

Sheinkin began his writing career as a textbook author, which honed his ability to distill complex information. In 2008, he shifted to writing nonfiction books for young readers. His first such book, King George: What Was His Problem? (2005), presented stories from the American Revolution that were often omitted from textbooks.

His notable works include The Notorious Benedict Arnold (2010), which won the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (2012), which received a Newbery Honor, the Sibert Medal, and was a National Book Award finalist; and Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War (2015), also a National Book Award finalist. Other titles include The Port Chicago 50 (2014), Undefeated (2017), Born to Fly (2019), Fallout (2021), and Impossible Escape (2023).

In addition to nonfiction, Sheinkin created the Rabbi Harvey graphic novel series, blending Jewish folklore with Western themes, and the Time Twisters series, which offers humorous, fictionalized accounts of historical figures.