Tamar Shapiro-Tamir began writing Extrema when she was fifteen, but it has grown with her. In her hometown of Ithaca, New York, she is known for the short story Rumpelstiltskin is my Name and the play The Young Queers Strike Back, but Extrema is her first full-length work. Currently, Tamar is working on her next novel, They Call Me, which is like Extrema set in a dystopia not so different from the present.