Lauren Oliver (born Laura Schechter) was born in New York City in 1982. She received degrees in philosophy and literaure from the University of Chicago in 2004. She graduated the MFA program at NYU in 2008. She worked briefly as an editorial assistant and an assistant editor at Razorbill, a division of Penguin Books. She left to become a full-time writer in 2009. Her first novel, Before I Fall, was published in 2010. Her other works include Delirium, Liesl and Po, and Pandemonium. In 2014 her title Panic made The New York Times Best Seller List.