Allison Pearson was born in South Wales. Her 'Kate Reddy' columns, from which her novel grew, I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT, appeared weekly in the Daily Telegraph. She has been named Critic of the Year and Interviewer of the Year in the British Press Awards, is a weekly columnist in the London Evening Standard and a feature writer for the Daily Telegraph, and was a founding member of BBC2's Late Review. She lives in Cambridge with the New Yorker writer Anthony Lane and their two small children.