Ursula Dubosarsky was born into a family of writers in Sydney in 1961, studied several languages at Sydney University and after graduating in 1982, taught French for a while to primary school children. She moved to Canberra for two years, working by day in the public service and by night writing a book that was to become Ziggy Zing (1991). She then travelled to Israel working on a kibbutz before returning to Australia. Her first book, Maisie and the Pinny Gig, illustrated by Roberta Landers, was published in 1989.
Ursula Dubosarsky has published many works of fiction for children and young adults including The White Guinea Pig, (1992) and The First Book of Samuel (1995), both influenced by her experiences in Israel, and non-fiction for children including an activity book The Word Spy Activity Book (2012), part of a series of works on language and grammar. She completed a PhD in English literature at Macquarie University on the work of the British authors Rumer Godden and Mary Norton. Her works have been well received not only in Australia but also overseas and she has won many awards.