Deborah Van Dyken is an attorney and writer who lives in Beaufort, North Carolina with her husband, Bill Blair, a sweet labradoodle named Rosie, a bouncy poodle mix named Pooh, and Sophie the Wonder Cat. Deborah also has two children, Charlie and Maya, and four grandchildren, Allison, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Nell.

During the past thirty years, Deborah has spent a lot of time observing sea turtles and their nests at Cape Lookout National Seashore in Carteret County, North Carolina, which inspired her to write The Little Turkle.