Jan Karon was born in North Carolina in 1937. After a career in advertising, she began writing a column in the Blowing Rocket. The column, about life in the small North Carolina town of Mitford, centered around an Episcopalian minister named Father Tim. Her Father Tim stories were collected into a book and published by a Christian publisher. She has won numerous awards for her work including the Christy Award for A New Song and the Gold Medallion Award for A New Song, A Common Life, In This Mountain, and Shepards Abiding. She has also written two children's book entitled Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny. In 2010 her book Shepherds Abiding hit the New York Times best seller list.
