Adrienne Young is a best-selling American author of both adult and young adult fiction. She was born and raised in Texas and now lives and works in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge mountains. Young enjoys outdoor activities, and her interest in nature is evident in her novels. She is also dedicated to helping other writers hone their craft and succeed in the publishing world. Young leads writing workshops and maintains a portfolio of resources for aspiring writers who are still in the process of finding their voice. With Isabel Ibañez, the author of young adult books like What the River Knows (2023) and Where the Library Hides (2024), Young authored The Storyteller’s Workbook, an interactive guide to crafting novels. She also created the Fable Grant, an initiative that provides resources and opportunities to women and nonbinary writers. 

Young has written several standalone novels for adults. A Sea of Unspoken Things has many commonalities with Spells for Forgetting. Both novels have a central mystery, with Spells for Forgetting focusing on the tragic, unexplained death of an adolescent whose friends are left reeling from their loss. Additionally, like A Sea of Unspoken Things, it is attuned to the way that remote, wilderness settings shape characters’ identities and their lives.