S. G. Byrd grew up in Macon, Georgia, on the campus of Mercer University, where her father taught history and read fantasy to his children. She graduated from Duke University in 1973 with a double major in English and Religion. Working with the Southern Baptist Mission Board, she drove a bookmobile through the beautiful hills of West Virginia, almost wrecking whenever she spotted sheep grazing on the mountainsides. An illness (Sjogren’s syndrome) put an end to that, and she spent several years doing part-time work. Later she married and with her husband raised three children in Durham, North Carolina. As the children got older, she started writing. She believes fantasy has a special power not only to enhance the imagination but to speak about reality. Her desire is to write fun fantasy stories set in a Christian world in which dependence on God is crucial and the beauty of things unseen makes hearts thrill with longing.
