Emma Speed Sampson

Born in Kentucky in 1868, she studied art at the Art Students League in New York City, taught after returning to Louisville, and later made her long-term home in Richmond, Virginia. She married Henry Aylett Sampson in 1896, and the couple had two daughters.

She became known for juvenile fiction and for carrying forward popular series. After the death of her sister Nell Speed, she continued the Molly Brown books under Nell's name, and she also wrote titles connected with the Miss Minerva books and the Mary Louise series associated with L. Frank Baum and the Edith Van Dyne house name. Her work shows a practical storyteller comfortable writing for young readers while keeping plots brisk and accessible.

Outside of books, she was active in Richmond cultural life as a movie reviewer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and served on Virginia's board of motion picture censors. She died in Richmond on May 7, 1947.