Renate Ahrens, born in Herford, Germany, in 1955, studied English and French at the universities of Marburg, Lille and Hamburg. She worked as a teacher for a few years, before she and her husband moved to Dublin in 1986. Since then she has been a freelance writer. She writes children's books, novels and stage plays. In 1996-97 she lived in Cape Town and in 2002-03 in Rome, and is now based in Dublin and Hamburg. Renate Ahrens is a member of the P.E.N. Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad.