Ella West was born in Invercargill. When she had read through the children’s library, she used her older brother’s card and began on the adult section. While studying literature at Victoria University, a holiday job reporting at the Southland Times taught her the craft of writing and eventually led her to the West Coast where she married a shearer. Together they went dairy farming on the banks of the Buller River. It was there, between getting the cows in for milking, teaching drama and raising two sons, that she wrote her first young adult novel Thieves (2006). They now live near Dunedin and have a sheep and beef farm.

Selected bibliography:

• Thieves (Longacre Press 2006).
• Anywhere but Here (Longacre Press 2008).
• Real Life (Longacre Press 2009).
• Night Vision (Allen & Unwin 2014)  

Awards:

• Louis Johnson/Creative New Zealand Bursary for New Writers 2006.
• University of Otago College of Education Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence 2010
• Winner, LIANZA Children's Book Awards 2015 (Young Adult Fiction) for Night Vision
• Winner, YA Children's Choice Award, 2015 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for Night Vision