Bradley Steffens (born February 10, 1955) is an American poet, playwright, novelist, and author of more than thirty nonfiction books for children and young adults.
In the mid-1970s Steffens self-published two chapbooks of his poetry, which he sold on the streets of Southern California. In 1976, the City of Laguna Beach, California, denied Steffens a permit to sell his works within the city limits, touching off brouhaha in the local press. Steffens went to court, seeking relief under the First Amendment, but the court ruled in favor of the city. Steffens turned to writing a series of one-act plays-in-verse, which were professionally produced as “Herod the Great: A Sequence of Pageants” by the Olympia Arts Ensemble in Minneapolis in 1981 with Michael Yonkers in the title role. Noel Bredahl of the St. Paul Post-Dispatch hailed the play as "an awesome creation on the part of the playwright. David Hawley, also of the St. Paul Post Dispatch, wrote, “Steffens is a powerful, talented artist."
Steffens has published more than fifty poems over the last forty years, receiving many awards along the way, including the Emerging Voices Award presented by The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and the Lake Superior Writing Competition Award sponsored by the Duluth Public Library. While working as a freelance proofreader for Lucent Books in 1989, Steffens wrote his first nonfiction book for children, Animal Rights. Over the next twenty-seven years, he wrote twenty-five more books for children and young adults, coauthored seven, and edited the 2004 anthology The Free Speech Movement. His works have been praised by Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Children’s Literature. The Fountain called his Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist a “beautiful work about Ibn al-Haytham and his advancement of experimental science.”
Steffens is a two-time recipient of the San Diego Book Award for Best Young Adult & Children's Nonfiction. His Giants won the 2005 award and his J.K. Rowling received the 2007 prize. J.K. Rowling also earned Steffens the Theodor S. Geisel Award for the best published book by a San Diego County author in 2007. His Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist was excerpted in Discovery Channel Magazine in March 2010. He was the keynote speaker at the Southeast Regional Conference of The Islamic Medical Association of North America, the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, the Pacifica Institute, and Women in Dialogue.
The Prisoner of Al-Hakim. Clifton, NJ: Blue Dome Press, 2017. ISBN 1682060160Eliminate the Threat of Nuclear Terror (Real-World STEM). San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2017. ISBN 1682822419Big Data Analyst (Cutting Edge Careers). San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2017. ISBN 1682821765Biomedical Engineer (Cutting Edge Careers). San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2017. ISBN 1682821781Careers in Medical Technology (High-Tech Careers). San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2017. ISBN 1682821161Careers in Internet Technology (High-Tech Careers). San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2017. ISBN 1682821145Is Marijuana Harmful? (Issues in Society). San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2016. ISBN 1682820971Cutting Edge Internet Technology (Cutting Edge Technology). San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2016. ISBN 1682820904Free Speech (Ripped from the Headlines). Yankton, SD: Erickson Press, 2007. ISBN 1602170150Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist (Profiles in Science). Greensboro, NC: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1599350246J.K. Rowling (People in the News). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2007. ISBN 1590189639Giants (Monsters). San Diego: Kidhaven Press, 2006. ISBN 0737731656Censorship (Overview Series). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2004. ISBN 1590181875J.K. Rowling (People in the News). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. ISBN 1560067764Understanding Of Mice and Men (Understanding Great Literature). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. ISBN 156006644XFurman v. Georgia (Famous Trials). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001. ISBN 1560064706Censorship (Opposing Viewpoints Digests). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001. ISBN 1565103904Emily Dickinson (The Importance Of). San Diego: Lucent Books, 1998. ISBN 1560060891Censorship (Overview Series). San Diego: Lucent Books, 1995. ISBN 1560061669Loch Ness Monster (Exploring the Unknown). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995. ISBN 1560061596Addiction (Opposing Viewpoints Juniors). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1994. ISBN 1565100948The Fall of the Roman Empire (Great Mysteries). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1994. ISBN 1565100980Free Speech (Opposing Viewpoints Juniors). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1992. ISBN 0899080987Phonograph (Encyclopedia of Discovery and Invention). San Diego: Lucent Books, 1992. ISBN 1560062223Photography (Encyclopedia of Discovery and Invention). San Diego: Lucent Books, 1991. ISBN 1560062126The Children’s Crusade (World Disasters). San Diego: Lucent Books, 1991. ISBN 1560060190Printing Press (Encyclopedia of Discovery and Invention). San Diego: Lucent Books, 1990. ISBN 1560062053Working Mothers (Opposing Viewpoints Juniors). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1989. ISBN 0899084974Animal Rights (Opposing Viewpoints Juniors). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1989. ISBN 0899084710From the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters: An Anonymous Romance of Theatric Space... and Six Anonymous Songs. San Rafael: Sack Back Publications, 1976.From an Eighteenth Century Painted Tile and Other Poems. San Francisco: Sack Back Publications, 1975.With Don Nardo, Cyclops (Monsters). San Diego: Kidhaven Press, 2005. ISBN 0737726156With Don Nardo, Medusa (Monsters). San Diego: Kidhaven Press, 2005. ISBN 0737726172With Craig Staples, The Trial of Charles Manson (Famous Trials). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. ISBN 1560067330With Diana Saenger, Life as a Vietnam POW (American War Library). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001. ISBN 1560067160With Robyn M. Weaver, Cartoonists (History Makers). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000. ISBN 1560066687With Dan Woog, Jesse Jackson (People in the News). San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000. ISBN 1560066318With James House, The San Francisco Earthquake (World Disasters). San Diego: Lucent Books, 1989. ISBN 1560060034Free Speech Movement (American Social Movements). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. ISBN 0737711566
