Emoke de Papp Severo was born in Windsor, Ontario. As a child the author was taught Hungarian by her parents and was early steeped in the folklore of their native land. Later, with a degree in English and General Literature from Smith College, she worked for several years in advertising for publishing houses in New York City, then freelanced for many more.

Emoke de Papp Severo's parents came to Canada in the 1920's from Budapest, Hungary. Every bedtime, her mother regaled her three children with magical, funny, even a bit scary, tales from the land of her birth. Inspired, Emoke researched, in Budapest and in the dusty bookstores of NYC's old Hungarian district, the less-known tales of the Magyar and Szekely peoples. Her careful, loving translations in Hungarian and Transylvanian Folktales (1997 Borealis) also include the charming stories of Hungary's best-loved folklorist, Benedek Elek.