Patricia Wrightson was the daughter of a country solicitor from whom she received an education in 'literature, philosophy and wonder'. She was the third of a family of six, attending several state schools, including the State Correspondence School for children isolated in the country. She also boarded at a private school in Stanthorpe, Queensland, for one year. After finding employment in a munitions factory during the war, Wrightson worked as a hospital administrator at the Bonalbo District Hospital from 1946 until 1960, and it was during this time that she began to write children's fiction. Her first published book, The Crooked Snake, received the Australian Book of the Year Award in 1956. She wrote more than twenty books over the next thirty years, receiving many prizes and accolades, including Switzerland's Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1986. In 1999 the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award for writing for a primary school audience was named the Patricia Wrightson Prize.