Heather Ross Miller, born in Albemarle NC, grew up in Badin, an aluminum-smelting town. Part of a well-known Southern writing family, including her uncles James Ross, Peter Taylor, and Donald Justice, her aunts Eleanor Ross Taylor and Jean Ross Justice, her father Fred Ross, she writes fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. She studied with Randall Jarrell, poet and critic, at The Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, and has taught many years in North Carolina, Arkansas, and Virginia. The author of over a dozen published books, she has two grown children and two grandchildren.