Emily St. John Mandel was born on Denham Island off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, and wrote three novels before Station Eleven: Last Night in Montreal (2009), The Singer’s Gun (2010) and The Lola Quartet (2012). In 2016, Mandel spent time analysing data about the outcomes of girls within texts where the word ‘girl’ appeared in the title. Her analysis showed that when authored by males, the title character was more likely to end up dead or missing than in narratives authored by women. Her essays and short fiction have been included in many collections including Best American Mystery Stories 2013. She is a staff writer for The Millions. Mandel lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. Station Eleven has been Mandel’s most popular novel, a work that she describes as ‘a love letter to this extraordinary world in which we live’.