Linda Smith was the author of the Tales of Three Lands Trilogy and the Freyan Trilogy. She also published several children’s pictures books, and poetry and short fiction in literary periodicals. Both Talisa’s Song and The Minstrel’s Daughter were finalists for four Young Readers’ Choice Awards, while her standalone YA fantasy The Broken Thread won the Alberta Book Award. Linda, who died in 2007, was a children’s librarian. She worked in both Canada and in the USA, where she earned her MA in Children’s Literature.