Virginia Lowe has been an academic, writer and manuscript assessor, and has been a judge for the Children's Book Council Awards. She has also been a convenor of the Crichton Award for new book illustrators. Lowe earned an MA and a PhD in Literature, and has taught children's literature and written extensively on children and books. Her PhD thesis was published in 2007 as Stories, Pictures and Reality: Two Children Tell. Lowe has also written poetry.