Emma Hardt is a first-time novel writer but a long-time poet, short-story author, and fantasy reader. By day, she is a contemporary art curator and researcher, published both digitally and in print for contemporary and modern art theory. 

Her inspirations/growing list of favorites are: 

- C.S. Lewis's "Till We Have Faces"
- Roald Dahl's "Chocolate Factory" series
- L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books
- The entire catalogues of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
- V.E. Schwab's "Shades of Magic" series
- Aimee Bender's "Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake"
- Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" series
and
- Karen Thompson Walker's "Age of Miracles"

She grew up in Southern California, but has lived in New York, Napoli, Hong Kong, and most recently Greenwich, London. 

If you're mixing her a drink, make anything with gin and she will love you for forever.