Emily Dorothy Scarborough was an American writer born in Smith County, Texas in 1878. She wrote extensively about Texas, folk culture, cotton farming, ghost stories, and women's life in the Southwest, drawing on her deep knowledge of the region and its people. Scarborough held a position as an assistant professor at Columbia University, where she taught creative writing. She was influential in her teaching, and numerous students of hers went on to become well-published and respected authors. She died in New York City in 1935.