Nicola O'Byrne was born in Swaziland, grew up in Singapore and has lived in Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Edinburgh, London and Cambridge. She now lives in sunny Los Angeles with her husband, Sjoerd, and their invisible dog, Chewbacca.

In her spare time she enjoys weightlifting and baking. In 2014 her picture book Open Very Carefully won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize, the Stockport Children's Book Prize and the Oldham's Brilliant Book Award, was highly commended for the UKLA Book Award and shortlisted for Oscar's First Book Prize and the Sheffield Children's Book Award.