Joanna Preston was born in Sydney and spent her childhood in outback New South Wales. In 1994, she migrated to Christchurch, and has since been active in the Canterbury literary scene. From 2003 to 2006, she lived in the United Kingdom, adding an MPhil. in Creative Writing from the University of Glamorgan to her BA in Theatre and Film Studies. Her award-winning poems have been widely published in New Zealand and internationally, including in the prestigious 2007 Carcanet anthology New Poetries IV and Best Australian Poems 2005. In 2008, Preston was the inaugural winner of The Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry.