After recently completing Abe the Caterpillar, Lan H. Reilly, a self-taught artist, was inspired to write her next book, Stahno the Space Explorer, hoping to cultivate a love for arts among her young audience. She was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and spent most of her childhood there.In 1975, she was evacuated with her family from the US Embassy and settled in Wisconsin. She later earned her Engineering degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She met her husband while working in Minneapolis, then relocated to Michigan to raise their three children and one land "seal," an English Setter.