Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Nora Roberts is an American writer. Roberts states that her writing career began when a February 1979 blizzard caused her to be snowed in with her two sons (who were 3 and 6 years old at the time). Roberts began writing storeys that night.

Her debut novel, Irish Thoroughbred, was published in 1981 by Silhouette. She has since written over 209 novels. She has three pseudonyms that she writes under: J. D. Robb, Jill March, and Sarah Hardesty.