Karl Beckstrand

College media instructor Karl Beckstrand is the best-selling and award-winning author/illustrator of 30 multicultural/multilingual titles and more than 65 ebooks. He’s lived abroad and interned for a Massachusetts publisher and for Congress in D.C. He earned a B.A. in journalism, an M.A. in international relations and conflict resolution, and a broadcast/film certificate. He’s been a technical recruiter in Silicon Valley, a Stanford Hospital chaplain, a Spanish interpreter for Angel Flight (aviator nonprofit), and a rock band front man. He’s won multiple publishing awards, including a 2016 International Book award for his Y.A. western survival thriller, To Swallow the Earth, and his works have been lauded by Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, The Horn Book, and School Library Journal. Raised in Silicon Valley, he has worked with people from all continents (except Antarctica). His work reflects cultural diversity—not only in protagonists, but in collaborators (his illustrators hail from Latin America, Europe, and Asia). Since 2004, he has run Premio Publishing. Beckstrand has presented to Taiwan’s Global Leadership for Youth, city and state governments, festivals, and schools. His Y.A. stories, self-help, ebook mysteries, nonfiction, Spanish/bilingual, career, and STEM books feature ethnically diverse characters—and usually end with a twist. His work has appeared via: Amazon, Apple/iBooks, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Costco, Deseret Book, Follett, Ingram, Kobo, Papercrafts Magazine, Everand, Target, The U.S. Congressional Record, Walmart, and KidsWorldBooks.