Tyswan Slater was born in Vietnam, but grew up in the Blue Mountains, and returned there in 2000 to raise her daughter, build a strawbale house, and write.

She is primarily a novelist. Her first novel Crystal Mountain, Turtle Pond was short-listed for the 2004 Harper Collins Varuna Awards for Manuscript Development, and nominated for the 2008 Penguin/Varuna Scholarship Award.