Ariane Bankes had a long career in publishing, including at John Murray and V&A Publishing, before becoming a writer, critic and curator. Her writing has appeared in The Spectator, Times Literary Supplement, Financial Times, Country Life, and Slightly Foxed. She sits on the boards of Koestler Arts, the Leche Trust and the Biographers' Club, where she runs the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize and the Tony Lothian Prize, and divides her time between London and Norfolk.