At age 11, Shai Adair wrote her first poem. Others followed, later accompanied by songs and stories. Through her teen years and into college, she played guitar and sang at churches and various events, only turning to writing longer, nonmusical works in her late 30s.

Shai grew up as Shannon Hockett in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. She moved to Wenatchee, Washington, where she spent her teen years and graduated from Wenatchee High School in the mid 1980s. For college she returned to the Pacific Northwest coast, graduating in the mid 1990s from Northwest College (now Northwest University) in Kirkland, Washington, with a degree in Biblical Literature and a minor in music.

No stranger to the classroom, Shai has more than 20 years of experience teaching in both private and public venues. She enjoys imparting knowledge to students of all ages.

Between workshops, public reading spots, and general life activities, Shai progresses her writing work from her residence in the Pacific Northwest where she lives with her family; her husband, Terry Schmautz, and their three girls.