Sibyl Ruth grew up in Manchester and later moved to the West Midlands. She started writing poetry when a long viral illness, ME, made it impossible for her to do much else. She has worked as a cook in a vegetarian restaurant, a gardener in a graveyard and has worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Tracy Ryan was born in Western Australia, where she grew up. After reading English at Curtin University, she studied European languages at the University of Western Australia, and has translated many French writers, including Helene Cixous, Maryline Desboilles and Francoise Han. She now lives in Cambridge, where she has worked as a bookseller, tutor, editor and writer. She was Judith E. Wilson Junior Visiting Fellow at Robinson College, Cambridge in 1998 and now teaches Australian Literature and Film at the University of East Anglia. Her books include two collections, Killing Delilah (1994) and Bluebeard in Drag (1996) and a novel, Vamp (1997), all published in Australia by Fremantle Arts Centre Press.