Mem Fox was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946. She grew up on a mission in Zimbabwe, went to drama school in London for three years in the mid-sixties, and returned to Australia in 1970, where she continued her studies and then taught drama and literacy for twenty-eight years. In 1996, she took early retirement from her position as Associate Professor of Literacy Studies at Flinders University in order to write and consult full time. She has been a literacy consultant in Australia, the United States, Taiwan, Guam, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, and Tanzania and is well known as the writer of several nonfiction books for adults and many best-selling picture books for children, including Time for Bed and Possum Magic. She and her family live in Adelaide, South Australia.