Stella Bagwell is an American author best known as a prolific writer of romance novels, many of which have been adapted into manga in Japan. Her career as a creator behind anime and manga works is defined by her role as the original story author for these comic adaptations, rather than as an illustrator or voice actor. Bagwell began her writing career unexpectedly after a career as a hairdresser was cut short due to a severe allergy to hairspray. Following encouragement from a former teacher, she wrote her first novel, which was purchased by Mills & Boon and published under the Harlequin imprint. Over her career, she has published close to ninety books, many of them set in the American Southwest and focused on family sagas and ranch life. She lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband.

Within the manga industry, Bagwell is credited for her work on The Expectant Princess, which serves as a primary example of her output in this medium. This manga, published in 2009, is an adaptation of her romance novel of the same name. It was illustrated by artist Rin Ogata and published as a single-volume, complete story under the josei demographic, which targets adult female readers. The story follows Princess Dominique Stanbury, who turns to a family advisor, Marcus Kent, for support when her father goes missing, and she must reveal a closely guarded secret about her pregnancy. The manga was released in English as a Harlequin comic by Harlequin and SB Creative Corp.

Bagwell's manga works are directly tied to her broader career as a romance novelist for Harlequin. The Expectant Princess is the first book in a four-story miniseries titled The Stanbury Crown: Royally Wed. Other books in this series, including The Blacksheep Prince's Bride, Code Name: Prince, and An Officer and a Princess, have also been adapted into manga, often by different artists such as Megumi Toda, Masami Hoshino, and Miho Tomoi. This pattern of adapting her romance novels into manga represents a significant trend in the industry, where popular Western romance stories are transformed into the Japanese comic format for a global audience.

Bagwell's artistic identity as an original creator is rooted in the themes of her romance writing, which consistently carry over into her manga adaptations. Her stories often focus on family, the American West, and the relationships between strong, silent men and the women who love them. This focus on family dramas and romantic relationships, often set against a backdrop of royalty or ranching, defines her narrative style. Her significance in the industry lies in her role as a bridge between the Western romance novel market and the Japanese manga market. Her extensive bibliography of over seventy-five titles for Harlequin has provided a rich source of source material for manga adaptations, making her a notable example of a non-Japanese creator whose work has been adapted for and integrated into the manga medium.