Jan Karon is an American writer and novelist, who has written for both children and adults. Karon was born in Lenoir, North Carolina, in 1937, as Janice Meredith Wilson. She retired from a career in advertising and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to write. Among her awards are an ABBY Honor award for books in the Mitford series, set in the fictional community of Mitford, North Carolina. She has been designated a lay Canon for the Arts in the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy (Illinois) by the Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, SSC.