Michael Bedard grew up in a busy household in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. His first experience with writing came in high school when a teacher introduced him to poets such as William Blake, John Keats, T. S. Eliot, and Emily Dickinson, and he soon determined to become a writer himself. Studying both English and philosophy at the University of Toronto, Bedard graduated in 1971 and took a job in a university library. He also married and started a family. While working as a pressman for a small print shop, he found a publisher for his first two original fairy tale collections for children, Woodsedge and Other Tales and Pipe and Pearls. From the outset, Bedard followed a challenging path as a writer. In both his early collections he made few concessions to young readers in terms of language. Although some reviewers complained, this adult tone is a quality Bedard has maintained throughout his fiction.