Joan Halifax

Joan Halifax, PhD, is a Zen priest and anthropologist who has served on the faculty of Columbia University and the University of Miami School of Medicine. For the past thirty years she has worked with dying people and has lectured on the subject of death and dying at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Medical School, Georgetown Medical School, and many other academic institutions. In 1990, she founded Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist study and social action center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1994, she founded the Project on Being with Dying, which has trained hundreds of healthcare professionals in the contemplative care of dying people.

Kiersten Eagan

KIERSTEN EAGAN is a children’s illustrator and visual development artist with a passion for storytelling. She finds inspiration anywhere a story can be found—in nature, reading, history, adventures, traveling—and specializes in gouache, pencils, and digital work. A graduate of the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Kiersten works in animation where she has designed for a variety of television and film projects such as My Little Pony, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Addams Family.

"Wonderful book! I enjoyed the simple yet practical messages for children. Sophie learned about positive self-talk, and letting things come (and go). Really beautiful story and messaging. Highly recommend." —Maureen Healy, author of The Happiness Workbook for Kids

"With its positive and underlying message friendship, loss and bravery, Sophie Learns to Be Brave is a fun, thoughtful, thoroughly 'kid friendly', and unreservedly recommended addition to family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library picture book collections." —Midwest Book Review

"A meditation on being safe and free, wrapped into a story about wishing well for others. In these times we could not ask for a greater gift for ourselves and our children than encouragement." —Spirituality & Practice