Rachel Cusk was born in 1967 and is the author of six novels. Her work has won the Whitbread First Novel and Somerset Maugham awards; her most recent novel, Arlington Park, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Her memoir A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother was published to huge acclaim in 2001. In 2003 she was chosen as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. She lives in Brighton.