Sherryl Clarke was born in Kawakawa and attended Bay of Islands College.  She first studied as a librarian at the New Zealand Library School, later attained a Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University in Geelong, Australia, and then a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Hamline University in Minneapolis, USA. In 2018 she graduated with a PhD from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia – her topic was fairy tales and her thesis included a middle grade novel.

Sherryl’s first published book was The Too-Tight Tutu which was one of the first Aussie Bites chapter books. She has since published more than 70 books for children and young adults, including picture books, chapter books and novels. She has also published five verse novels, several of which have won awards.
Her books have been awarded more than 14 Notables by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and have been published in the USA, UK, Spain, Mexico and China.
Sherryl taught professional writing and editing for 23 years at Victoria University Polytechnic in Melbourne. Her subjects included fiction writing, story structure, poetry, writing for children, writing for young adults, editing, industry knowledge, writing for new media and myths & symbols. Over the years she has taught more than 3500 students, as well as workshops in schools and in the community.
Currently she writes, both for children and adults, and works as a freelance fiction editor.
After many years in Australia, she returned to live in New Zealand near family.