Sheila Black was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned a BA in French literature from Barnard College and an MFA in poetry from the University of Montana. Her fifth full-length book is Radium Dream (Salmon Poetry, 2022). She is the author of a chapbook All the Sleep in the World (2021), Iron, Ardent (2017), Wen Kroy (2014), Love/Iraq (2009), and House of Bone (2007). She has also written more than 40 books for children and young adults.