Trent holds a B.A. in English from the University of Iowa and an MFA in creative writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.  In 2004 and 2005 he served as a combat engineer with the Army National Guard, an experience that inspired him to write his first novel for young people Words in the Dust (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic 2011).  Since then he has published fivemore novels, Stealing Air, If You’re Reading This, Divided We Fall, and Burning Nation, and the last of the Divided We Fall Trilogy, The Last Full Measure.  Calling the Inland Northwest home for the past five years, he enjoys the area’s rich natural beauty and rich literary community.