Dia Calhoun was born to James and Eva Calhoun in Seattle, Washington, in 1959. As a child she studied classical ballet for twelve years, from the age of five to seventeen. She also knew as a child that she wanted to write, and remembers writing a poem on "Our Classroom Flag" in the fifth grade. In her late-teens she had to decide between continuing with her dancing or going to college. She chose college and enrolled in Mills College, graduating in 1980 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in English and book arts.

After college Calhoun worked as a freelance artist, doing lettering and logo design, for a number of years. One of her designs became the logo for Alaska Airlines, and she did the lettering for many book jackets.

When she started writing seriously, she tried to write an hour...