Heather Ferranti Kinser ~ Picture Book Author
Inform, Delight, and Shine a Light!
Quick Bio ~ Heather Ferranti Kinser writes at the intersection of story, poetry, and nature from her home on the San Francisco Peninsula. She’s a former technical editor who now spends her days writing small stories—to make a big difference for kids!
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A Bit More Bio ~
    Heather started writing at age nine when she wandered to where the sidewalk ends, entered a state of literary amazement, and never fully recovered.
     She graduated from Santa Clara University with a bachelor's degree in English (and lots of notebooks filled with poems) and worked 15 years as a proofreader/copy editor for engineering firms. A love of rhythmic language and short writing forms eventually led her to writing picture books, and she's never looked back.
     Heather lives in the Bay Area with her family and several shelves full of picture books. She is the author of three picture books: IN A CAVE, NATURE IS A SCULPTOR, and SMALL MATTERS.
     Heather is represented by Sarah Stephens of Red Fox Literary.
See the SMALL MATTERS book trailer!

Good News

  • Recipient of 2021 Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award in the category "transitional nonfiction"—for SMALL MATTERS
  • SMALL MATTERS made Melissa Stewart's list My 10(ish) Favorite STEM books of 2020
  • My humorous historical poem "King Tut Tours His Tomb" was published in the February 2023 issue of Cricket magazine
  • My humorous poem "One Man Band" will appear in the November 2023 issue of Orbit, from The School Magazine (Australia)
  • My humorous poem "My Bed's a Boat" will appear in the January 2024 issue of Countdown, from The School Magazine (Australia)
  • My humorous poem "Stage Fright" will appear in a future issue of Cricket magazine.
  • 9th place finalist in the 2023 Kids' Choice KidLit Writing Contest, in the picture book category
  • Published in the poetry anthology Two Truths and a FIB, compiled by Bridget Magee of Wee Words for Wee Ones.
  • Featured on Lyrical Language Lab's 'Peek & Critique' video lesson.
  • Madness! Poetry Tournament "Authlete", six years running: Among 64 poets, I survived to compete in the "great eight" match-up in 2018 and made it to the "sweet sixteen" in March 2019 and May 2023
  • Placed in the 2019 Golden Haiku Competition, Washington D.C.
  • 4th-place in Susanna Leonard Hill's 2020 "Halloweensie" contest [October 2020]
  • 3rd-place in Susanna Leonard Hill's 2017 "Valentiny" contest [February 2017] and 8th-place in the 2017 "Holiday" contest [December 2017]

Guest Appearances

NATURE IS A SCULPTOR
SMALL MATTERS
Explore the forces of weathering and erosion in this lyrical ode to rock formations
Journey into a cave system in this wonder-filled rhyming story
See nano-sized animal adaptations through a scanning electron microscope.