Ann Weldy, more commonly known by her pen name, Ann Bannon, was born on September 15, 1932, in Joliet, Illinois. She is best known for authoring six lesbian novels, the Beebo Brinker Chronicles, that were published from 1957 to 1962. In 1974, she received her doctorate in linguistics from Stanford University; she later worked as an English professor at Sacramento State University. She was married to a man for more than twenty years and had two daughters with him.