Christian author B. J. Hoff was born in 1940. Before becoming a full-time writer, she was a church music director and a music teacher. She spent several years writing devotional and gift books before attempting to write fiction. She is the author of Cloth of Heaven, Ashes and Lace, the Emerald Ballad series, the American Anthem series, and the Mountain Song Legacy series. She has received the Critics' Choice Book Award for fiction from Christianity Today as well as numerous Excellence in Media Silver Angel awards. She was also a Gold Medallion Award finalist and is currently a member of the Authors Guild, the Irish American Cultural Institute, and the Appalachian Writers Association. She currently lives in Ohio with her husband.