凯特·迪卡米洛生于美国宾夕法尼亚洲，在佛罗里达州长大，大学时代主修英美文学，并从事成人短篇小说的创作，曾经获得一九九八年迈克奈特基金会的作家奖助金。《傻狗温迪克》是她的第一本儿童小说，并夺得了2001年纽伯瑞儿童文学奖银奖。

从四岁起到大学毕业为止，凯特家都一直住在气候温和、有许多棕榈树的阳光的佛罗里在州，后来她迁居到北方寒冷干燥的明尼苏达州。由于居住的公寓禁上养狗，而阴沉的冬季又令她特别怀念南方的阳光，她便将这样的心情反映在稿纸下，变成了《傻狗温迪克》的这个故事。

凯特笔下的人物都显得十分真实，她说，她并没有塑造这些人物，而是专心聆听这些人对她说什么 ，然后把他们说的东西转述出来。她不喜欢刻意介入或扭转故事的发展。也不特意挑选故事的题材或背景，一切都是自然而然流露出来的。以《夏绿蒂的网》一书闻名于儿童文学界的E.B.怀特曾说：“所有我想要在书里表达的，甚至所有我这辈子所想要表达的就是，我真的喜欢我们的世界。凯特认为这句话也正是她写作的心情。

Recalling the fiction of Harper Lee and Carson McCullers, here is a funny, poignant, and utterly genuine first novel from a major new talent.

The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket--and comes out with a dog. A big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor. A dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive. Winn-Dixie is better at making friends than anyone Opal has ever known, and together they meet the local librarian, Miss Franny Block, who once fought off a bear with a copy of WAR AND PEACE. They meet Gloria Dump, who is nearly blind but sees with her heart, and Otis, an ex-con who sets the animals in his pet shop loose after hours, then lulls them with his guitar.Opal spends all that sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends and thinking about her mother. But because of Winn-Dixie or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship--and forgiveness--can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm.