Ron Koertge (pronounced KUR-chee) writes fiction for Young Adults and poetry for everybody. The author of a dozen novels and novels-in-verse, his latest are Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses and Coaltown Jesus, both from Candlewick Press. As a poet, he has been awarded grants from the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is also part of the Best American Poetry series (1999 and 2006). His latest books of poems are from Red Hen Press: Fever and The Ogre’s Wife. A devoted handicapper of thoroughbred race horses, he can be found around the paddock at Santa Anita Race Track.