盖尔·E. 海莉，美国作家、插画家。1939年，生于美国北卡罗来纳州的夏洛特。这位擅长重述神话与民间故事的作家从小就爱好阅读，她说过："我的圣殿是夏洛特公共图书馆--一座藏满童书的古老、庄重的建筑。"对海莉影响最大的还是她在《夏洛特观察者报》工作的父亲，海莉会在周六去父亲的办公室，据她回忆，"在美工部和印刷间，我沉浸在伴随图像艺术产生的令人兴奋的气味和声音中，从那时起，制作书籍的油墨和树胶胶水就已经在我血液中了。"

长大之后，海莉先后在里士满专业学院和弗吉尼亚大学求学，学习绘画。1962年海莉开始从事儿童文学创作，出版自己的图书。她最著名的作品《故事的故事》，是对非洲民间故事的重述，荣获了1971年美国的凯迪克金奖，根据这本书改编的电影还获得了捷克斯洛伐克儿童电影节奖。在1973-1980年她与丈夫一起移居英国，这段时间她创作的《邮局的猫》又获得了1976年英国的凯特·格林纳威奖。回到美国之后，海莉在北卡罗来纳的阿帕拉契州立大学教授儿童文学的写作与插图绘制以及关于木偶戏的课程。

Many African stories, whether or not they are about Kwaku Ananse the "spider man," are called, "Spider Stories." This book is about how that came to be. The African storyteller begins: "We do not really mean, we do not really mean that what we are about to say is true. A Story, a story; let it come, let it go." And it tells that long, long ago there were no stories on earth for children to hear. All stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy some of these stories, so he spun a web up to the sky and went up to bargain with the Sky God. The price the Sky God asked was Osebo, the leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see. How Ananse paid the price is told in a graceful and clever text, with forceful, lovely woodcut illustrations.