Sheila Black is the author of over 40 books for children and young adults as well as the author of two poetry collections and two chapbooks. Black was chosen as one of the 2012 Witter Bynner fellowship recipients. She was born with X-Linked Hypophosphatemia (XLH), a rare genetic bone condition, often called Vitamin D Resistant Rickets. Two of her three children also have XLH.