Dr. Ashley Hay is an award-winning novelist and essayist whose work has been praised for its "incandescent intelligence and a rare sensibility". Her prizes include the Foundation of Australian Literary Studies’ Colin Roderick Award, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards - Peoples’ Choice, and the Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing. Her books – including The Railwayman’s Wife and A Hundred Small Lessons – have been published to critical acclaim and commercial success in Australia, the United States, the U.K., and in translation.

Dr. Hay has a diverse background spanning 30 years in writing, journalism, facilitation, and editing, and is the current editor of Australia’s leading literary journal, the quarterly Griffith Review. She lives in Brisbane.