Donita Kathleen Paul is a best-selling contemporary Christian fiction novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist. Best known for her fantasy

High fantasy

High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...

 DragonKeeper Chronicles series, she won a finalist medal in the Christy Award

Christy Award

The Christy Awards are awarded each year to recognize novels of excellence written from a Christian worldview. Awards are given in several genres, including contemporary , historical, romance , suspense, and visionary...

s for the first installment of the DragonKeeper Chronicles, DragonSpell. She has also written romances

Romance novel

The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...

 and juvenile novels

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 under the name Kathleen Paul. Born in Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...

, Paul now lives in eastern Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

.

Biography

Paul studied elementary education in college as preparation for being a mother, but she soon became a single mother and worked as an elementary-school teacher. It wasn't until a flesh-eating bacterium in her leg put her in the hospital for 21 days that she seriously turned to writing at her mother's urging. She submitted a romance novel she had written for her thirteen-year-old daughter, and it was published.

Writing career

Paul began writing as a teen. She and three or four friends would write during the week and share their stories at a Friday night slumber party. She took the Institute of Children’s Literature correspondence course when her children were preschoolers, and she later wrote a romance novel for her thirteen-year-old daughter, but she didn’t settle down to writing until she got an infection in her leg that ultimately ended her school-teaching career.

After her initial success writing romances, Paul tried fantasy when her mother challenged her to write "something different, bigger, deeper". The eventual result was the DragonKeeper Chronicles.

DragonKeeper Chronicles Series

Title	Year	Summary
DragonSpell	2004	Former slave Kale Allerion unintentionally joins a band of adventurers on her way to train for royal service. Now she must help recover a dragon egg stolen by an evil, terrible wizard.
DragonQuest	2005	Now an apprentice dragonkeeper, Kale and a young man named Bardon must again thwart the evil wizard Risto's plans to use dragon-power for conquest.
DragonKnight	2006	Before becoming a knight, Bardon undertakes a quest to free magically imprisoned knights, one of whom may be Kale's long-lost father. Bardon and Kale also form a romantic relationship.
DragonFire	2007	Kale and Bardon, now husband and wife must stop husband-and-wife wizards devastating the land in a contest for supremacy.
DragonLight	2008	With the evil apparently banished from the land, a new religious movement arises—but is it a blessing or a curse? Also, waves of tiny but destructive dragons may herald the awakening of an ancient, unstoppable dragon.

Chiril Chronicles Series

Title	Year	Summary
Dragons Of Chiril	2009	Tipper, a young emerlindian who's responsible for the upkeep of her family's estate during her sculptor father's absence, discovers that her actions have unbalanced the whole foundation of her world, and she must act quickly to undo the calamitous threat. With the help of some unlikely companions—including the nearly 5 feet (1.5 m) parrot Beccaroon and the miraculous Wulder—she sets out to save her father and her world.
Dragons of the Valley	2010	With an invasion of her country imminent, Tipper Schope is drawn into a mission to keep three important statues from falling into the enemy’s clutches. Her friend, the artist Bealomondore, helps her execute the plan, and along the way he learns to brandish a sword rather than a paintbrush. To restore their country, Tipper, Bealomondore, and their party must hide the statues in the Valley of the Dragons and find a way to defeat the invading army.
Dragons of the Watch	2011	n/a

Retitled Novel

Beginning with the second printing, The Vanishing Sculptor is now known as Dragons Of Chiril.

Romance Novels

• Escape (1999)
• To See His Way (2000)
• The Heart of a Child (2000)
• Out in the Real World (2001)
• City Dreams (2001)
• Christmas Letters (2001)
• Woven Hearts (2002)
• Kaleidoscope (2005)

External links

• Official site