Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American writer, teacher, and journalist. She is best known for the children's book series Little House on the Prairie, published between 1932 and 1943. These books were based on her childhood in a settler and pioneer family and served as the inspiration for the television series Little House on the Prairie during the 1970s and early 1980s.

Ingalls Wilder began writing the series when she was in her mid-sixties, and they have since become cherished classics of American children's literature. Besides these novels, she also wrote regular columns for newspapers and maintained a diary as an adult during her move from South Dakota to Missouri, which has been published as a book.