Joyce Goldenstern, a Chicago resident, has been adapting folktales and writing fiction and warily "living by fiction" and folk wisdom for many years. Her work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including the Penguin Anthology Catholic Girls. She is the recipient of a fellowship and a literary award from the Illinois Arts Council and a winner of a Quarterly West novella contest. She is also the author of five nonfiction books for middle-school students.