Fleur Beale is a Wellington-based award-winning author. Beale was born in Inglewood, Taranaki, on the farm where her father was born. Her father was a dairy farmer, her mother was a teacher and a writer. Fleur attended Victoria University in Wellington, followed by Christchurch Teachers’ College, where she met her husband. Beale’s first stories were written for the children’s radio programme, Grandpa’s Place. Her first full novel, Slide the Corner, was published in 1993. Writing a novel taught her how to develop the plot and expand the characters and their intentions towards one another.