Laura Hillenbrand is the author of the number one bestsellers Unbroken and Seabiscuit, which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The film it inspired was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. She served as a consultant on the Universal Pictures feature film based on Unbroken. Hillenbrand's New Yorker article, 'A Sudden Illness', won the 2004 National Magazine Award, and she is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award. She and actor Gary Sinise co-founded Operation International Children, a charity that provided school supplies to children through American troops. She lives in Washington, D.C.