Lori Ries was born in Syracuse, New York, the eldest of four children. She discovered a love for storytelling as a young child and wrote her first story when she was just ten years old. It was a short story called Jo-Jo the Raccoon based on a true story about a baby raccoon that Lori's grandfather found on the side of the road and brought home for his children to raise. Lori lives in Tigard, Oregon, with her husband and three children.