Sybil Smith was born in Townshend, Vermont in 1954. She graduated from Middlebury College in 1977, and, after a few years of floundering was accepted in the M.F.A. program at Cornell University. She chose to go to Pace University instead, where she became a Registered Nurse. She has worked as a nurse in Mississippi, Alaska, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Vermont. She is presently working part time as a psychiatric nurse in the Veteran's Hospital in White River Junction, Vermont. Throughout her career as a writer she has often found inspiration in her experiences as a nurse.

She lives with her manfriend in a house on the banks of the Connecticut River, where she is often enthralled by the abundance and diversity of wildlife. She would like to be reincarnated as a rich, famous and powerful writer, and failing that, would settle for being an otter.

She has one fabulous child, Celia, who is a singer/songwriter and also goes to college at The University of Vermont.

Her book, Hannah Duston's Sister, will be available in the beginning of December, 2005.