Shirley Sacks was born in South Africa in 1943. She left Johannesburg in 1976 and moved to London. Ms. Sacks has a degree in Fine Arts and has shown her work in galleries all over the world. She has also worked in advertising as a copywriter, and wrote a column for The Sun, a South African magazine. Ms. Sacks has lived in Los Angeles since 1987. The Fabliss Life of Bella Mellman is her first published novel.