Fiona Farrell was born in Oamaru in 1947. She was educated at Waitaki Girls' High School, Otago University and The University of Toronto. She has worked as an editor and a teacher in both Canada and New Zealand and currently lives in Banks Peninsula.

Her poetry and short stories have been widely published in New Zealand journals and anthologies and her plays have been performed by Radio New Zealand, the Depot Theatre and a wide variety of schools and amateur drama groups.

In 1987, Auckland University Press published a collection of her poetry, Cutting Out followed by The Rock Garden, a collection of her short stories. Since then she has published two novels and further collections of poetry and short stories.

Fiona thinks of her plays as outlines which producers should adapt and update to fit their specific requirements. She believes the work should play to the cast's strengths and aims for an informative core and a broad emotional range.

Her most popular play Chook Chook, has been performed over 70 times in New Zealand and Australia.