Hei­di E.Y. Stem­ple did­n’t want to be a writer when she grew up. She became a pro­ba­tion offi­cer, before join­ing the fam­i­ly busi­ness at age 28, when her first short sto­ry was pub­lished in a book called Famous Writ­ers and Their Kids Write Spooky Sto­ries. The daugh­ter of Jane Yolen, Hei­di has since pub­lished more than 35 books and many short sto­ries and poems. She lives on a farm in Massachusetts.