Holly Black née Riggenbach was born in West Long Branch, New Jersey in 1971, she is an American writer and editor best known for her Children's and Young Adult Fiction. Her most recent work is the New York Times Bestselling Young Adult the Folk of the Air series. She is also well known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with writer and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, and her debut trilogy of Young Adult novels officially called the Modern Faerie Tales. Black graduated with a B.A. in English from The College of New Jersey in 1994. She worked as a production editor on medical journals including The Journal of Pain while studying at Rutgers University. She considered becoming a librarian as a backup career, but writing drew her away.