Anna Funder was born in Melbourne in 1966. She has worked as an international lawyer and a radio and television producer. In 1997 she was writer-in-residence at the Australia Centre in Potsdam. She lives in Sydney with her husband and family.
Her first novel Stasiland was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2003 and in Australia for The Age Book of the Year and the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards for non-fiction. Stasiland won the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2004