Jean Auel was born in Chicago on February 18, 1936. She moved to Oregon and
attended Portland State University, receiving her M.A. from the University of
Portland in 1976. It was not until after she had raised five children that she
began to write poetry and fiction. In fact, The Clan of the Cave
Bear started as a short story exploring Auel's interest in Paleolithic
humans. As Auel asserts, "the story lead to research, the research fired my
imagination, and the wealth of material made me decide to write a novel." The
original manuscript was almost one half-million words long and was rejected by
several publishers.
In the mid-1970s, Auel began revising her mammoth manuscript. She rewrote
The Clan of the Cave Bear four times. Finally, in 1978, she
found a publisher willing to devote the time and resources to publishing the
series. The novel was finally published in 1980. Over the following twenty-two
years, she published three more novels in the series: The Valley of the
Horses (1982), The Mammoth Hunters (1985), and The Plains of Passage
(1990).
Although she continues to work on the Earth's Children Series, Auel admits
that she wants to tackle something lighter next time. She currently lives in
Oregon with her husband.