Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, the son of a wealthy business man. He was named "Lyman" after his uncle, but disliked this name and used his his middle name, "Frank". He was raised on his parents' estate, Rose Lawn. He was tutored at home until age of 12, when he was sent to Peekskill Military Academy. He disliked the school and after two years there he was allowed to return home.

At age of 20, Baum began breeding fancy poultry, and in 1880 he began publishing a monthly trade journal, The Poultry Record. In 1886, his first book, The Book of the Hamburgs: A Brief Treatise upon the Mating, Rearing, and Management of the Different Varieties of Hamburgs, was published.

At about this time, Baum became interested in the theatre, performing under the stage names of Louis F. Baum and George Brooks. In 1880, his father built him a theatre in Richburg, New York, where he produced and starred in his own plays.

In 1882, Baum married Maud Gage. In 1888, the couple moved to Aberdeen, Dakota Territory, where Baum opened a store, when failed. He became the editor of a local newspaper, The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, and he also wrote a column, called Our Landlady. The paper failed in 1891, so he his wife, and their four sons moved to Chicago, where he became a reporter for the Evening Post. He also edited a trade magazine for advertising agencies about department store window displays, and he worked as a traveling salesman.

In 1897 he wrote and published Mother Goose in Prose, which was illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. The book was successful, and he quit his sales job. In 1899 he and illustrator W. W. Denslow published a book of nonsense poetry called Father Goose, His Book. The was the best-selling children's book of the year, and he and Denslow followed it with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, which was a best-selling children's book for two years after its initial publication. In 1902, Baum and Denslow created a musical based on the book with composer Paul Tietjens and director Julian Mitchell. Called "The Wizard of Oz", it opened in Chicago and then ran on Broadway on and off for two years, then toured the United States until 1911. He moved to Hollywood, and in 1914 he started a film production company called The Oz Film Manufacturing Company. His final Oz book, Glinda of Oz was published a year after his death in 1920 but the Oz series was continued long after his death by other authors, notably Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote an additional nineteen Oz books.

Alternate Names: Floyd Akers, Laura Bancroft, John Estes Cooke, Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald, Suzanne Metcalf, Schuyler Staunton, Edith Van Dyne