Kathi Appelt is an American author born on July 6, 1954, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She is known for writing more than forty books for children and young adults. Appelt won the annual PEN USA award for Children's Literature for her novel The Underneath (2008).

Appelt spent her early childhood in El Paso and Houston, Texas. In Houston, her mother encouraged her creativity by allowing her and her sisters to draw on a section of their garage wall. This wall became a significant part of her childhood, serving as her first "journal" and a record of her emotions and experiences.

Currently residing in College Station, Texas, with her husband Ken and their four cats, Appelt serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program. She has two sons who are both musicians.

In her own words, "Most of my books and poems come directly from my own life because that’s what I know best and feel most strongly about."