Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Kathleen O'Neal Gear is an archaeologist and New York Times best selling author. Her professional life began at the Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles where she was cataloguing three-hundred-year-old Guatemalan statues as part of her Ph.D. coursework. In 1980, she moved to Wyoming to work for the U.S. Department of the Interior as a historian and archaeologist, where she was twice awarded a "Special Achievement Award" for outstanding management of America's cultural heritage. She's authored or co-authored more than 50 novels and around 200 non-fiction articles. In 2015, the United States Congress honored her with a "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition" for her work as an American archaeologist and writer, and the California State Legislature passed Joint Member Resolution #117, saying, "The contributions of Kathleen Gear to the fields of history, archaeology, and writing have been invaluable." In 2019, her book MAZE MASTER, won the International Book Award for Best Science Fiction novel. She's married to W. Michael Gear, archaeologist and novelist, and they live near Cody, Wyoming. In 2021, Kathleen and Michael jointly received the Owen Wister Award for lifetime contributions to Western literature and were inducted into the Western Writers of America Hall of Fame. In 2023, they were awarded the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence.