Mari Strachan was born into a Welsh family in Harlech, on the north-west coast of Wales, and was brought up there with Welsh as her first language.

After graduating from Cardiff University she qualified as a chartered librarian, and worked in a variety of libraries, from academic through public and prison to school libraries, with occasional forays into other occupations.

In 2007 she acquired an MA (with distinction) in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University.

As well as writing and reading, Mari’s interests include the past and its people, and the future, in the form of sustainable living.

She and her husband now live on a tiny smallholding in Ceredigion.