Mag Merrilees has been a member of the Writers' Centre for seven years. Her first novel won the Driftwood Manuscript Prize in 2002 and was shortlisted for the SA Festival Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2004. Her second novel was shortlisted for a Varuna manuscript award in 2007. She has had short pieces published in Meanjin, Island, ABR and various anthologies.

Currently, Mag is teaching in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at Flinders University while completing her PhD in creative writing. In one of many earlier incarnations she was a Certified Practising Accountant. She has twenty-five years' financial experience in organisations of all shapes and sizes, with budgets ranging from the hundreds to the hundreds of millions. She has served on many boards, has taught accounting, and has an on-going commitment to community organisations and to the demystification of financial matters.