Born in Melbourne, Lorraine McGuigan was raised in Sydney. Because of her mother's illness she left school at thirteen to care for her baby sisters; two years later she returned to Melbourne. When the youngest of her own six children started school she enrolled at Deakin University where her childhood love of writing was re-kindled. After graduating with majors in literature and philosophy, she began writing poetry and short fiction, and was awarded the Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award. Her poems have been published in the UK, USA and Australia. In 1994 she became the Managing Editor of the Monash University journal, Poetry Monash.