Vince Ford was born in 1970 and spent his childhood on a 700 acre hill country farm at Mangamingi, east of Eltham in Taranaki. He studied for a Bachelor of Agriculture at Massey University and spent several years as a production manager for agricultural videos. Since winning the Tom Fitzgibbon Award in 1998, he has become a prolific author with his books that combine rural life in New Zealand with humour. He lives at Wainui Beach north of Gisborne.