Marla Himeda is a lifelong musician who has taught piano and clarinet for eighteen years at Punahou Schools and for over half a century in her own studio. She teaches her own theory and composition courses, coaches ensemble groups, and is a prolific arranger of chamber music for winds. She has performed in the Seattle Opera House, the Seattle Art Museum, and many concert venues in Hawaii, where she has lived for the past fifty years near Mount Olomana, whose twin peaks sparked the birth of Bardic Mountain. She is a member of the National Music Teachers Association and Opus 5 Winds, and is principal clarinetist for the Honolulu Wind Ensemble.

The author will happily lose herself in good stories of any genre, but she has a special love for fantasy. Her books feature the harp, flute, and pipes as the primary Bardic instruments, for, as she regretfully admits, neither the clarinet nor the piano had yet been invented. The Bardic Isles Series is a merging of her two passions—music and writing—and portrays a world that she unabashedly admits loving to escape to. The author believes that we should all have a Master Bergid in our lives, and she was very lucky to have three of them: Michiko Miyamoto and Professor Randolph Hokanson, both amazing piano teachers, and Frances Walton, an inspiring Youth Symphony director.