Steve Stinson

Steve Stinson is an artist and writer in Virginia, where he lives with his patient wife in the world's smallest 5-bedroom house. He got his first writing gig at age 16 – producing headlines for the local daily in his hometown of Fulton, Mo. – and stayed in newspapers for the next 25 years as a writer, editor, artist, and art director until he opened his own illustration and design studio in 2000. Today, he is the founder and director of Assignment Ready Training, a program that uses art projects to teach workplace skills to people with learning disabilities. When he was young and limber he was "Dr. Chumley," the ringmaster and juggler in Circus Minimus, a festival show for children. In 1974, he rode a bicycle across Europe. It was far. In 1975, he rode a bicycle across America. It was farther. In the 1980s, he syndicated a comic strip, "Hamlet," with the Register & Tribune Syndicate. He is the father of two, and step-father to four, all reasons for America to be hopeful.