Patricia Forde lives in Galway, in the west of Ireland. She has published five books for children, and written two plays, as well as several television drama series for children and teenagers. She has worked as a writer on both English and Irish language soap operas. In another life, she was a primary school teacher and the artistic director of Galway Arts Festival. Her novel The Wordsmith (published in the USA as The List) was awarded a White Raven award by the International Youth Library.