I.W. Zilke was born in 1988 in Siberia. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Zilke’s family relocated to Germany. After she graduated from school, she read Art History at the University of Glasgow. Later she pursued an M.A. in Creative Writing at Teesside University where she graduated with distinction. The author derives her ideas from her numerous travels and from her personal interest in her own biographical roots, as well as from studying the turbulent history of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, which is closely connected to her family history. She also writes under the pseudonym 'Isabeau Kelm'.