Maggie Anton was born Margaret Antonofsky in Los Angeles, California. In the early 1990's, Anton began studying Talmud in a class for women taught by Rachel Adler, now a professor at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. She became intrigued with the idea that Rashi, one of the greatest Jewish scholars ever, had no sons, only three daughters. Slowly but surely, she began to research the family and the time in which they lived. This resulted in her authoring Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved (Banot Press, 2005; rpt. Plume, 2007) and Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam (Plume, 2007). She is the winner of the 2006 Ben Franklin Award for Best new Voice - Fiction. Anton continued on with her studies individually with Rabbi Aaron Katz Ph.D., Professor of Rabbinics at the Academy of Jewish Religion.