Joan Lane was born in 1931 in Warman, Saskatchewan, and grew up there and in Melville. An accomplished musician, trained classical dancer, and above all a gifted writer, she abandoned her artistic pursuits for the responsibilities of career and, later, motherhood. For many years she was a reference librarian in Owen Sound, Ontario. The stories collected in her Dumagrad collection You Call This Home were written when she was in her twenties; some were chosen by Robert Weaver for the legendary CBC radio show Anthology. The manuscripts were discovered with her papers after she passed away in 2008.