Anna Fienberg came to Australia when she was three years old in 1959. She gained a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University before travelling in Europe and living in Italy for a year.
During the 1980s, she edited the NSW School Magazine. Billy Bear and the Wild Winter (1988) was first published in this magazine as a series. In 1988 she also published Wiggy and Boa, illustrated by Ann James. It was highly recommended for the Younger Readers Section of the Childrens' Book Council Awards for that year. The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels won the CBC Award for Younger Readers in 1992. Other titles include :The Nine Lives of Balthazar (1989), Ariel Zed and the Secret of Life ( 1992) and Dead Sailors Don't Bite (1996). She has also published new versions of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie stories for younger readers.
She has collaborated with her mother, Barbara Fienberg , to produce the Tashi tales (1995 -) in which the small hero recounts his adventures with entertaining mythical characters. These and other titles such as the Minton series (1999 -) are also the result of a long term collaboration with the illustrator Kim Gamble. This series combines stories with transport themes. Children are encouraged to use recycled materials to make the vehicles from the stories. Anna's writing often combines short tales of whimsy and imagination that attract the young independent reader. However, she has also written for young adults with Borrowed Light (1999), a sensitive book about being a teenager, loneliness, love and pregnancy. Anna has written for several magazines such as Women's Day, Lucky and Cosmopolitan .