Ouida Sebestyen was born on February 13, 1924, in Vernon, Texas, to James Etheridge and Byrd Lantrip Dockery, teachers. She attended the University of Colorado and held jobs in such diverse places as a church nursery and a preliminary training school for aviation cadets. On December 22, 1960, she married Adam Sebestyen, a Hungarian refugee who had been her pen pal. They had one son, Corbin, and were divorced in 1966. Sebestyen now lives in Boulder, Colorado.

This author uses the pseudonym Ingen Sebestyen for short stories and anthologies; her young adult novels are published under the name of Ouida Sebestyen. Sebestyen has been writing since she was twenty, but her work was not published until thirty-five years later. That long apprenticeship honed her talent and skill. She has said that she hopes the story of her persistence will keep other unpublished writers from getting discouraged.

IOU's, Far from...