Moon Young-sook was born in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do, in 1953. Her literary career took off when she won the second Blue Literature Prize in 2004 and the sixth Literature Neighborhood Prize for Children's Literature in 2005. In 2012, she received a creative grant from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. Moon mostly writes stories to teach young people about parts of Korean history that Koreans must never forget. Some of her best-known works are the young adult historical novels The Kareiski's Endless Wandering and The Children of Henequen. She has also written children's novels including Picture in the Tomb, The Dark Sea, Hagi: Lady of the Court, The Coat of Many Colors, The Old Man Who Became a Baby.