Valerie Laughton was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide and had her first poem 'The Men in Blue' published when she was eight. She has been a nurse, worked also as a station cook travelling through Western Australia to Cairns and has been editor of the Pilbara literary group. Laughton has also lived in South Hedland, Western Australia and Nuriootpa, South Australia.
Laughton has also written From Housework to Adventure (1978) and I Was Only Saying : a form of greeting to make the reader smile (1985).