Barbara Rieti has an MA in Folklore from the University of California at Berkeley and a PhD in Folklore from Memorial University. In addition to Strange Terrain, she is the author of Making Witches: Newfoundland Traditions of Spells and Counterspells (McGill-Queen's, 2008). During this research, she raised John Rieti-Lovelace, now a producer at CBC. Following these projects, she came to prefer drawing to writing. After weathering thirty-four years in St. John's, she moved to Victoria, BC with Martin Lovelace and their cats.