Gladys Lister was the seventh of ten children born to American immigrants. She was educated at Cromarty, a private school in Melbourne until the age of fourteen, when the family moved to Perth. She continued her schooling there until the family moved to Sydney a few years later. After leaving school, Lister studied painting under Julian Ashton. She married in 1913 and her two children, Peter and Roberta, feature in her first book.
Lister began writing for children in 1937, encouraged by Pixie O'Harris (q.v.) who conducted a 2UE radio programme and wanted some stories suitable for broadcasting. The arrival in Sydney of children evacuated from Britain during the Second World War prompted Lister to write some stories, like Jennifer Stands By, based on the adventures of such children in Australia.
Her last novels, written in the 1950s and all published in England, form a group, using the same characters. Two of these, A Star for Starlight and Quest for Starlight, may also be read as travel books, for they include descriptions of post-war sea voyages made by Lister to North America, England and Europe. Lister has said that she owed her love of horses to the fact that she had always owned a pony and that she inherited her love of story telling from Irish ancestors on her mother's side. In Sydney where her home at Vaucluse was known for its beautiful gardens, she was actively involved in local charities.
