E.C. Alfaras was born in Manila, Philippines to Eduardo, an aeronautical engineer, and Eileen, formerly a dietician who later on worked in the insurance industry. A third culture kid almost from birth, her parents had met in Saigon while both were working abroad in their early twenties. The most adventurous people she knows to date, Vietnam was her parents' first venture out from their native Philippines, but proved to be only the beginning of the intrepid globetrotting that was to span more than four decades. Their wanderlust made for a very unique upbringing for Edlynn and her younger sister, Nacime. Her formative years were spent in Vietnam, Singapore, Iran and Bahrain. Her sister's were spent in Iran, Egypt, Bahrain, U.S.A. and Malaysia.

 

She read everything she could get her hands on as a child. By the time she was eleven, she had read almost every book in her grandmother's formidable bookshelves, including a few encyclopedias. She attributes what would become her great love of storytelling to her mother, who read to her every single night as a child, no matter how tired or sleepy she was.

 

She lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her four-legged feline son and daughter, Henry Miller and Edith Wharton.