Jane Yolen was born on February 11, 1939 in New York City and now lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Both of her parents were writers, so she always felt that writing was a way of life. She attended Smith College and received her master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts in 1976. She is a distinguished author of more than 200 books, and when she is not writing, she composes songs, is a professional storyteller on the stage, and is the busy wife of a university professor, the mother of three grown children, and a grandmother. The best description of her writing is what she says about it herself: "