Anne Casey-Hardy was born in Fremantle and grew up in Melbourne as the oldest of seven children. Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls, published by Scribner in 2022, is her first book. Her award-winning short stories and poetry have been published in Meanjin, Island Magazine, Overland, Kill Your Darlings, Westerly and several anthologies. Anne has previously worked as a research librarian and advocate for families of premature babies. She lives in Melbourne's west with her husband, on Bunurong land.