Helena Drysdale was born in London and has a degree in History and Art History from Trinity College, Cambridge. After a brief stint working for Walker Books, she wrote reviews of contemporary art for Artscribe Magazine, of which she became co-editor. She has written for a range of newspapers and magazines; lectured to hundreds of institutions; and appeared on many radio programmes. She tutors for the Arvon Foundation and runs writing courses, and edits non-fiction for the Writers' Workshop, an editorial agency. She is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter University. She has received writing awards from the Authors' Foundation and the Kay Blundell Trust, and judges the Society of Authors' Travel Award, and the Travel Writers' Guild Travel Book Award. She is married to painter Richard Pomeroy and they live in Somerset with their two daughters.