Jan Schultz, born on December 19th, is a fifth-generation Minnesotan who is fascinated by state history. Listening, reading, and researching family history has led to kernels of information that Jan skillfully weaves into her works of fiction. Jan’s three novels are based on real events in Minnesota history.

Her first novel, Horse Sense: The Story of Will Sasse, His Horse Star, and the Outlaw Jesse James, deals with a young boy who lived during the time of the Northfield robbery of 1876. Horse Sense was selected to be on the Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year 2002 list, and a finalist for the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Award.

The second piece of writing, Firestorm, has a young girl living through the Great Hinckley Fire of 1894. Firestorm won the 2003 Minnesota Book Award for Young Adult, and was a finalist in the 2003 Northeast Minnesota Book Awards

Jan’s third and newly released novel is Battle Cry. Two boys, best friends, from different cultures and backgrounds find themselves torn between opposing sides during the Dakota Conflict of 1862.

She now lives with her husband along the bluffs of the Minnesota River Valley on a farm that was homesteaded by the Schultz family in 1869.