About Grant Overstake
Grant Overstake is an award-winning author, former journalist, creative producer, and civic educator whose work helps readers and learners explore conscience, courage, and human connection through powerful storytelling.
Grant Overstake | Audie Award–Winning Author & Founder of The Real Education Project
He began his career as a sportswriter after graduating from the University of Kansas School of Journalism, earning early recognition with the William Randolph Hearst Award for Excellence in News Writing — an honor often likened to the Pulitzer Prize for student journalists. Grant wrote for The Wichita Eagle and The Miami Herald, covering everything from high school championships to professional sports and in-depth feature reporting.
His debut novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, tells the story of a Kansas farm girl whose passion for pole vaulting becomes a path to resilience and self-discovery. Praised by critics, educators, Olympians, and coaches alike, it has been recognized as one of the greatest track and field novels of all time by Citius Mag and received glowing reviews from Kirkus Reviews, USA TODAY, Midwest Book Review, and librarians nationwide.
Grant’s second novel, The Real Education of TJ Crowley, set in 1968 Wichita, confronts racism and moral awakening through the eyes of a young protagonist coming to terms with his world and himself. The book was named Book of the Year by the Kansas Authors Club and has been adapted into a full-cast audio drama, The Real Education of TJ Crowley: Coming of Age on the Redline, which earned the 2025 Audie Award for Best Young Adult Audiobook, the AudioFile Earphones Award, and the Independent Publisher Book Awards’ Outstanding Audiobook of the Year.
As an author and teaching artist, Grant has inspired thousands of students through writing workshops and school assemblies focused on resilience and grit.
Grant and Claire Overstake enjoy participating in masters athletics competition.
Grant is founder and director of Grain Valley Publishing, a publishing house focused on emotionally rich, socially relevant storytelling that invites reflection, conversation, and connection. From award-winning print narratives to immersive audio productions, Grain Valley’s work engages readers, listeners, educators, and communities alike.
He is also the founder and director of The Real Education Project, a narrative-based educational initiative that partners with schools, libraries, and community organizations to bring story-driven learning, facilitated conversation, and educator support into real-world settings.
As a teaching artist, Grant has presented writing workshops and school assemblies on resilience, grit, and narrative understanding to thousands of students. His approach blends craft, empathy, and reflection to help young people explore their own stories and relationships to the world.
A lifelong athlete, Grant continues to compete in masters athletics alongside his wife, Claire Overstake, an award-winning science educator. Together they have earned multiple state and national honors, including the Couples Spirit Award at the 2020 Virtual Worldwide Masters Athletic Challenge Championships.
Grant and Claire are also active members of the ARISE Ensemble, a multicultural choir that promotes racial harmony and preserves the legacy of Negro spirituals — a tradition that also influenced The Real Education of TJ Crowley.
Grant Overstake with the ARISE Ensemble, a multicultural choir promoting racial harmony
Over the course of his life, Grant has earned awards in journalism, literature, audio production, athletics, and community service. His work, whether on the page, in the studio, in classrooms, or on the track, centers on human depth, moral exploration, and shared experience.
He lives and works in Kansas with his wife, Claire, and continues to collaborate with educators, librarians, civic leaders, and storytellers across the region and beyond.