Barbara Youree is a freelance writer and former teacher of French and English. Her narrative nonfiction book Courageous Journey, Walking the Lost Boys Path from the Sudan to America (New Horizon Press, 2008) is the story of two Sudanese refugees whom she met and mentored in Kansas City during their first year in the United States. The book was endorsed by former President Jimmy Carter and became a finalist in The National Best Books 2008 Awards. The sociology department at Avila University in Kansas City has selected it as required reading in their classes.   Youree has written a series of historical romances set in Italy for Heartsong Presents/Barbour Publishing. Because of their popularity, four have been combined under one cover: Renaissance Brides. Together the romances have sold over 130,000 copies. Not counted in that number are a republication of the series in large print.   Her six children’s books, fiction and nonfiction, with Beacon Hill Press are about children of missionaries who make friends with children in foreign cultures. Her many magazine articles have appeared in such diverse publications as Fate, True Reports of the Strange & Unknown; Miracles Magazine; Mature Living; and Spider, the Magazine for Children. For eight years she served as Contributing Editor of the internationally distributed Potpourri, A Magazine of the Literary Arts.   Among activities that Youree enjoys, traveling tops the list. She has visited most of the countries where her stories are set: Italy, France, Haiti, Guatemala, and the Netherlands. Her two trips to Greece provided background for two novels: the recent publication of Race to Glory: Olympics from the First Century and the forthcoming romance, Heart at War, set during the Greek Revolution in the mid-nineteenth century.

MA from Emporia State University
Finalist in National Best Books Award (2008) for Courageous Journey
Alliance Française grant to study in France National Endowment for the Humanities to study at Notre Dame University
First place for children's book in Oklahoma Professional Writers