Orson Scott Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. He is the author of the novels “Ender's Game,” “Ender's Shadow” and “Speaker for the Dead,” which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools.

Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (“Magic Street,” “Enchantment,” “Lost Boys”), biblical novels (“Stone Tables,” “Rachel and Leah”), the American frontier fantasy series “The Tales of Alvin Maker” (beginning with “Seventh Son”), poetry (“An Open Book”) and many plays and scripts. Card currently lives in Greensboro, N.C., with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child, Zina Margaret.