Doug Peterson is the award-winning author of 93 books, including seven historical novels, 14 comic books (and counting), and over 40 children’s books for the best-selling VeggieTales series.

Doug’s passion for writing can be traced to grade school, when he ran his own media empire, publishing the monthly Peterson Popper magazine and The Weekly Waste newspaper (with a circulation of 3). He wrote and bound dozens of his own books, including such classics as 20,000 Leagues Under the Swimming Pool and In Cold Ketchup (real titles).

Doug graduated in journalism from the University of Illinois in 1977 and did a short stint as the editor of a small Wisconsin weekly newspaper. (Their motto: “This is Wisconsin, so we pay you in cheese.”) Fearing that he might be forced to root for the Packers, Doug and his wife returned to the University of Illinois in 1979, where he began work as a science writer and half-time freelance writer.

Doug’s VeggieTales book The Slobfather won the 2004 Gold Medallion Award for preschool books, and he was co-storywriter for the best-selling video, Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed. His popular short story, “The Career of Horville Sash,” was made into a music video featuring Grammy-winner Jennifer Warnes, and he co-wrote “Roman Ruins,” an episode in the bestselling line of How to Host a Murder party games.

Doug has a love for history, so he made the transition to historical novels with The Disappearing Man, chosen by Canton, Ohio, for its One Book, One Community program.

Doug’s North-South series begins with three of the most amazing true stories from the Underground Railroad. Then it transitions into two Civil War novels. His first book in the new Kingdom Come series, Thrones in the Desert, follows the first half of the Book of Luke as seen through the eyes of five fictional characters. The next book in the series, Swords in the Desert, will cover the second half of Luke. His other novel is a mystery based on the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall.

Most recently, Doug was hired to write an extensive series of comic books on American history, illustrated by Marvel artists. In addition, he’s developing a new comic book series for the University of Illinois Department of Chemistry.

Doug’s non-fiction work includes the popular book Of Moose and Men, co-written with Tennessee comedian Torry Martin, and Back to the Futures, co-written with economist Scott Irwin.

Doug has also been a science writer for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for over 48 years. He has been married for 48 years and has two sons and four grandchildren. He and his wife live in Champaign, Illinois.