Helen Laidlaw was born in Holbrook NSW. Over the years she has studied at Nowra High School, Wagga Wagga Teacher's College, the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, and the University of Tasmania. She has worked as a teacher or teacher-librarian in NSW, ACT and Fiji, and as a librarian at the University of Tasmania.
She completed her career as Head of Library at The Scots College in Sydney.