Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942) is best known for creating Anne Shirley, the red-haired orphan who made her famous overnight. Anne of Green Gables hit shelves in 1908 and became an immediate phenomenon—the kind of book that turned a Canadian author into a household name and launched an international career that lasted decades.

Montgomery, who went by "Maud" in her personal life but L. M. Montgomery professionally, didn't stop after that first success. She wrote at least five sequels following Anne's journey into adulthood, and kept writing steadily throughout her life. In total, she published 20 novels along with around 500 short stories and poems, making her one of the most prolific writers of her era.

What really set her apart was her attachment to Prince Edward Island. Most of her work was set there, and the province became so closely linked to her fiction that it's now a literary landmark in its own right. Fans still visit the island specifically to see the landscapes that inspired her stories.

Her contributions to literature earned her significant recognition late in life—she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935, a mark of how widely her work was respected by then. She remained active as a writer until her death in 1942.