Mary Edward was born in Glasgow and graduated from Glasgow University in 1975 with an Honours Arts degree. She worked in education in Strathclyde Region for 20 years and retired in 1996. For the latter part of that time she worked as Education Development Officer in the field of Multi-Cultural Anti-Racist education, developing and producing many resources and developing and delivering in-service packages to teachers at every level. During that time she researched and wrote the first edition of Who Belongs to Glasgow?, a documentary history of immigration to Glasgow over two centuries. Mary is currently President of Strathkelvin Writers' Workshop, and Vice-President of the Scottish Association of Writers.