Rosita Boland was born in County Clare. She has previously published a collection of poems, Muscle Creek (Raven Arts, 1991), and two travel books Sea Legs: Hitch-hiking the Coast of Ireland Alone (New Island, 1992) and A Secret Map of Ireland (New Island Books, 2005).

She won the Hennessy Award for First Fiction in 1997. A journalist with The Irish Times, she has travelled extensively, most recently in South East Asia. Her second collection, Dissecting the Heart, is published by The Gallery Press (2003).