Miriam Lo was born in Canada and from age three to nineteen was raised in Singapore, where she obtained 'O' and 'A' levels in Secondary Education and acquired considerable fluency in Mandarin Chinese. Of Malaysian-Chinese descent through her father and Australian descent through her mother, she settled in Australia, gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Queensland (UQ). She enrolled also at UQ as a postgraduate student for a Doctor of Philsophy degree.
Lo has worked as a kindergarten teacher, research assistant to a merchant bank, student librarian, tutor, babysitter and poetry workshop convenor. She has given readings of poetry for Interactions: The Eighth Biennial Symposium on Literatures and Cultures of the Asia Pacific Region (1997), As Good As It Gets? Postgraduate Work-In-Progress Conference, UQ (1998), Asian-Australian Conference, Canberra (1999), and Subverse Queensland Poetry Festival (1999 and 2000). Lo was also a member of the panel discussion Written on the Face: Identity and Australian Poetry for the Subverse 2000 Queensland Poetry Festival.
