Phyllis McGinley was born in Oregon in 1905 and educated at the universities of Utah and California. She worked as a teacher, a magazine staff writer, and a copywriter for an advertising agency. She wrote essays, a film narration, the lyrics for the Broadway revue Small Wonder (1948), and several volumes of light verse. McGinley is noted for her poetry, which she spoke of as being inspired by her children. Her volume of poetry Times Three won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961.

Norman H. Russell was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, in 1921. He has a Ph.D. in botany and has worked as a professor at many universities. In addition to writing botany textbooks, he has written several collections of poetry, including At the Zoo and I Am Old. Russell's Cherokee heritage has influenced his poetry.