Sunshine O'Donnell

A Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers author (Open Me, Penguin Random House), Sunshine O’Donnell’s novel has been translated into Dutch (Huil Voor Mij) and Hebrew (המקוננות). O'Donnell's collection of poetry, States of Arousal, won the Louise Bogan Award and will be released by Trio House Press in 2023. O’Donnell’s nonfiction work includes the board book Your Vacation on Planet Earth (Out Breath Press/The Nesting House), and a selection in W.W. Norton’s anthology of Best Creative Nonfiction. Throughout her twenties and thirties, O’Donnell taught creative writing and art to children in residential facilities, in-patient mental health facilities, shelters for the unhoused, and underserved schools, publishing literary magazines created and edited by youth with a special focus on children telling their stories about their experiences in the DHS placement system. A featured sugar artist on The Food Network and Cake Central magazine, O’Donnell has won juried awards for her inedible art made out of discarded things. Since 2013, O’Donnell has been teaching middle school in Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and child.