Miska Miles was a pseudonym for the author Patricia Miles Martin, born November 14, 1899 in Cherokee, Kansas. She was a graduate of the University of Wyoming and worked as an elementary school teacher for four years before beginning a career in writing.
Patricia began writing almost by accident. She had enrolled in an upholstery class that was too full and sat down, instead, in a creative writing class that had empty seats. Her first book, Sylvester and the Voice in the Forest, was written during that class and published in 1958.
Ms. Martin went on to write over 100 stories under her own name, as well as the pseudonyms Miska Miles, Patricia A. Miles, and Jerry Lane. She had particular interest in biographies, fiction from different cultures, and animals. She was also inspired by the things that happened to her while living on a farm in Kansas and a Navajo reservation.
Her book, Annie and the Old One, received a Newbery Honor and a Christopher Medal in 1972. It was adapted into a film in 1976.
— Karen Ritz