In primary school Emily Gee wrote lots of stories; in secondary school she didn't. English became her least favourite subject and she dropped it as soon as she could. Nothing would have made her take English at university!

She had no intention of becoming a writer. Ever. She got a science degree, She spent several years travelling and working overseas, and one day she was sitting on a bus in Syria, with the desert stretching in all directions, and she thought, What if...

She's been a rehabilitation instructor, a library assistant, a postie, a waitress on the Isle of Skye, and even (briefly) a field assistant in Antarctica. She loved to travel and has lived in Sweden, backpacked in Europe, and journeyed overland in the Middle East, China, and North Africa. Most recently She's lived in Marlborough, New Zealand and worked in the wine industry.