Edward Stanton's Wide as the Wind is based on ten years of travel and research on Easter Island, whose name he has changed in his novel in order to extend its imaginative reach to all of Polynesia. Born in Colorado and raised in California, he resides in Kentucky after having lived in Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Spain. Stanton is the author of eleven books, some of which have been translated and published in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Road of Stars to Santiago, the story of his 500-mile walk on the ancient pilgrimage route to Compostela, was called one of the two best books on the subject by The New York Times. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Michener said, "Edward Stanton recounts his adventures with stylish conviction." He has been a professor of literature at universities in the U.S., Europe and South America. The Fulbright Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities have awarded him grants for travel, research and writing. His students and colleagues recently published a volume of essays in his honor. At present he is completing a travel memoir titled VIDA: A Life. 

Next Generation Indie Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Young Adult Fiction - Historical/Cultural, Feathered Quill Award for Teen Fiction, and Purple Dragonfly Book Awards in Green Books/Environmental.