Libba Bray was born in Alabama on March 11, 1964. She grew up in Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988. She moved to New York City and worked in the publicity department of Penguin Putnam, followed by three years at Spier, an advertising agency specializing in book advertising. Before writing young adult novels, she wrote three books for 17th Street Press using a pseudonym. She is the author of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy and Going Bovine.