Heidi E.Y. Stemple didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer. It wasn’t until she was 28 that she joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer is her mom, Jane Yolen. Since then, she has published 50 books.

Heidi lives and writes on an old farm in Massachusetts that she shares with wild animals and birds. Once a year she counts owls for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.