Dao Strom is the author of Grass Roof, Tin Roof and The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys. She is also a writer of songs. She has been the recipient of a NEA Literature Fellowship, the Nelson Algren Award, an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship, and a 2014 RACC (Regional Arts & Culture Council) Project Grant. She lives in Portland, OR. Her hybrid book/music project, We Were Meant to Be a Gentle People, will be published summer 2015 by Jaded Ibis Productions.