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Inez Hogan, author, lecturer, and illustrator of books for children, was born on August 5, 1895 in Washington D.C. She was the daughter of John Edgar and Minnie (Holzer) Hogan. She attended public schools in the city, majoring in art in high school. After graduating she went to Wilson Teachers College, planning to support further training in art by working as a teacher. Hogan's first job was teaching first grade, and she enjoyed working with young children so much that she refused an offered promotion in order to remain teaching at that level. Later she became a supervisor of art in the public schools of Washington, D.C., continuing to work with the primary grades.

During her non-teaching hours, Hogan attended such schools as the Corcoran Art School, the National School of Fine and Applied Art, the Berkshire Summer School of Art, Cape Cod Art School, and George Washington University. She took some time away from teaching in 1917-1919 and studied at various art schools in Paris, then stayed to travel throughout Europe, painting as she toured. She returned to the United States intending to "live in New York and be an artist" ( Illustrators of Children's Books, The Horn Book Inc., 1947) but soon found herself supervising art in the public schools again. Through a friend, Hogan received an opportunity to write and illustrate a book for children. As soon as it was published in 1927 Hogan quit her teaching job to write and illustrate children's books as a means of furthering her painting career. In time, however, her interest in children's books overtook her interest in painting. She spent many summers living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where many of the town's children were the inspirations for her illustrations.

Hogan is most noted for her animal stories, including a series about animal twins, and her "Nicodemus" series about a young African American boy and his family and friends.

From 1927 through 1973 Hogan wrote and illustrated more than sixty books, over fifty of them for E.P. Dutton and Company. From the 1930's until her death in 1973, children's books were her sole means of support. Of this she said (in More Junior Authors, The H. W. Wilson Company, 1963), "I can think of no happier way to make a living."

Inez Hogan died in February 1973 in Orleans, Massachusetts.