A lifelong student of folklore and a connoisseur of ghostly chills and shocks, Alvin Schwartz (1927-1992) is the author of over 20 books for young readers, among them his popular collections of folktales, horror stories, tongue twisters, riddles, poems, songs, and superstitions. Though his writings cover many subjects, he is best known for a trio of horror collections created in collaboration with the artist Stephen Gammell and published between 1981 and 1991: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones. These books, written mostly for children and young adults, are now regarded as classics of the genre, despite frequent attempts by nervous parents to ban them from school libraries.

A onetime journalist and English professor, Schwartz began freelance writing as a sideline in the 1960s, eventually building a prolific career with his deftly curated collections of old stories, poems, and songs, some hundreds of years old. Long fascinated by the oral traditions of stories, Schwartz streamlined his tales by reading them aloud to himself in a room with good acoustics, such as a bathroom, to sharpen their impact as spoken word.