Jane Kirkpatrick is a New York Times best-selling and award-winning author of more than 40 books and numerous essays for over 50 publications throughout the United States, including The Oregonian and Daily Guideposts.

She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times in 2012, the Caldera Achievement Award from The Nature of Words in 2006, and the Distinguished Northwest Writer Award in 2005 from the Willamette Writers Association.

Her works have sold over two million copies and have earned prestigious literary honors such as the Wrangler (National Cowboy Museum), WILLA Literary (Women Writing the West), Will Rogers Medallion (Will Rogers Foundation), and the Carol (American Christian Fiction Writers).

Her many historical novels—most inspired by the lives of real women—speak of timeless themes of hardiness, faith, commitment, hope, and love.

Jane speaks internationally about writing and the power of story. Her presentations reflect her belief that stories are gifts of inspiration and courage, and that our lives are often the stories other people read first.

A Wisconsin native, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Communications and Public Address and later earned a master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Jane worked for seventeen years with Native American families on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation as a mental health and early childhood specialist. She also served as the director of the Deschutes County Mental Health Program in Bend, Oregon.

Jane now lives in Redmond, Oregon with her dog, Ruppert. Her husband, Jerry—her longtime partner in adventure and the steady presence behind decades of stories—passed away in September of 2025. Jane writes candidly about the journey of grief and grace in her Story Sparks newsletters, honoring Jerry’s memory through the “firsts” she now encounters, the community that surrounds her, and the small everyday miracles that continue to reveal themselves.