About Jan

Author, historian and expert speaker Jan Cleere writes extensively about the desert southwest, particularly the people who first settled the territory. Her freelance work appears in national and regional publications including Arizona Highways Magazine, Persimmon Hill Magazine, Phoenix Woman, Tucson Guide Quarterly, The Desert Leaf, Chronicle of the Old West, and Arizona Garden.  

Her latest book, Levi's & Lace: Arizona Women Who Made History, published by Rio Nuevo Publishers, contains the stories of over thirty heroic Arizona women who were known for their fortitude in the face of adversity, their confrontation of extraordinary and sometimes dangerous situations, their adventuresome spirit, and their dedication to improving the lives of others.  

Amazing Girls of Arizona: True Stories of Young Pioneers, published by Globe Pequot Press, won the 2009 Arizona Book Publishing Association Glyph award for best young adult nonfiction, and was also named one of the best books of 2009. The book was also a Finalist for the 2008 National Best Books Award.  

Outlaw Tales of Arizona: True Stories of Arizona's Most Famous Robbers, Rustlers, and Bandits, also published by Globe Pequot Press, was recognized nationally in 2007 as winner of the National Federation of Press Women's Literary Competition for Historical Nonfiction. The book also placed first in the 2007 Arizona's Press Women's Literary Competition, and was a Finalist for the Arizona Book Publishing Association Glyph Award. Outlaw Tales of Arizona will be republished in 2012 with additional added chapters.  

More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Nevada Women, another Globe Pequot Press publication, was a 2006 WILLA Literary Award Finalist and a 2006 Arizona Press Women's Literary Competition Finalist for Historical Nonfiction. The Nevada Women's History Project elected Jan to its Roll of Honor for her “significant contribution in the preservation of Nevada's women history."  

In 2001, Jan received recognition from Arizona Highways Magazine for her article, "Hostess to the West," the life of Elizabeth Hudson Smith, a black entrepreneur in Wickenburg, Arizona, during the early 1900s.  

Also in 2001, Jan was a finalist for the Sharlot Hall Alice B. Longan award (Prescott, Arizona), which encourages serious women writers at the beginning of their literary careers.  

She serves on the Coordinating Council of the Arizona Women's Heritage Trail, and is a member of the Western Writers of America, National Federation of Press Women, Arizona Press Women, Women Writing the West, Arizona Authors Association, Authors Guild, Society of Southwestern Authors, Arizona Historical Society, Nevada Historical Society, Nevada Women's History Project.  

Jan and her husband live in Oro Valley, Arizona, under the shadow of the Santa Catalina Mountains.