Maureen Garvie grew up in Kingston, Ontario and studied at Western and Queen's. She lived and taught in New Zealand for 12 years. Returning to Canada in 1983, she worked as a writer and editor for the Kingston Whig-Standard and was co-editor of the Whig-Standard Magazine. She taught writing and editing at Queen's University and was for many years a copy editor with McGill-Queen's University Press. She also copyedited the Journal of British Studies for seven years while it was hosted by Queen's Department of History. She is the author of four YA novels, George Johnson's War (with Mary Beaty), Lake Rules, Amy by Any Other Name, and Almost Invisible, and a mystery, Withdrawn from Circulation. She is also the publisher of Woodpecker Lane Press.