Alfa-Betty Olsen is an award-winning author, screenwriter, and television writer. After graduating from The State University of Iowa in Iowa City, Olsen returned to New York and worked with Mel Brooks on The Producers and was the casting director of that film. She then worked with Marshall Efron on the landmark PBS series The Great American Dream Machine followed by an Emmy-winning career writing for television with Efron. They have also written many film scripts. Other Olsen-Efron collaborations have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Esquire, National Lampoon and Spy. Their seven published books include several children's books, most recently Gabby The Shrew (Random House), illustrated by celebrated New Yorker cartoonist, Roz Chast.