Cynthia Rylant was born in Hopewell, Virginia, on June 6, 1954. Her years in Appalachia are reflected in her writing, notably in her books, When I Was Young in the Mountains, and Waiting to Waltz, which are autobiographical.

Her grandparents were very important in her life because she lived with them from the time she was four until she was eight. When her parents separated, her mother decided to go back to school and become a nurse and could not take Cynthia with her. It was at that time that her mother took her to Cool Ridge, West Virginia, to live with her grandparents.

Her grandfather was a coal miner, and her grandmother stayed at home.

A couple of cousins lived there, and aunts and uncles came often. She listened to her relatives telling coal camp stories, and "their voices went deep inside her."

Rylant loved...