Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of numerous novels and short story collections including Hotel World, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, The Accidental, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Orange Prize and How to be Both which won the Baileys Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Folio Prize. In 2017, Autumn, the first book in the Seasonal Quartet, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. She lives in Cambridge.