Dashka Slater (she/her) is an author who has published fourteen books of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have won numerous national and international accolades. Dashka is a recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. At Mesa Refuge, Dashka worked on a series of essays about justice, punishment, accountability, social media and radicalization, public policy and other topics inspired by her ten years reporting about teenagers and hate crimes.