Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword. Her other books include Sunshine, the New York Times bestseller Spindle's End, two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, English writer Peter Dickinson.