Martine Murray grew up in Malvern, Victoria in the 1970s. At various times she studied fine arts, filmmaking and painting, movement and dance, and writing. She joined the Women's Circus and later formed the contemporary dance company, Bird on a Wire. Her first book, the picture book A Dog Called Bear, was based on observations of her own dog, Bear. The ending of her performing career, through injury in the early 2000s, coincided with the first successes of her writing.