Barbara Walsh is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who has worked for newspapers and magazines in Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, and Ireland. Sammy in the Sky was inspired by her family’s first dog, Sam, a loyal and loving hound who died in 2003. She is also the author of August Gale; A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Storm, an adult biography and memoir book. Barbara Walsh lives in Maine with her husband, Eric, daughters, Emma and Nora, and their coonhound, Jack, a rescue dog from Tennessee.