Jean Auel is an American novelist best known for her Earth's Children series of books. She is the author of the novel The Clan of the Cave Bear, which was published in 1980 and became an international bestseller. Her other works include The Valley of Horses, The Mammoth Hunters, The Plains of Passage, and The Shelters of Stone. She has also written several non-fiction books about prehistoric life. Auel has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the Nebula Award for Best Novel.