Emily Barroso was born in Zimbabwe. Following the culmination of the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe war, the family moved to South Africa in 1980. This move profoundly affected her and it was partly this sense of dislocation that inspired After the Rains. Emily lived in South Africa from 1985-1986, and then moved to London where she has lived ever since. Until April 2009, Emily taught Creative Writing and Art in a therapeutic capacity to ex-offenders and those with a history of addiction or mental health issues. Emily has written for open democracy online magazine on Zimbabwe and Burma and was a recipient of Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers’ Apprenticeship in 2004/5. She is married and has two children.