Vanessa Curtis originally trained as a pianist before becoming a freelance journalist and contributing articles to a range of magazines and newspapers. She is the author of two biographies on Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf's Women and The Hidden Houses of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell as well as a reviewer of fiction and nonfiction for broadsheet newspapers. She is the co-editor of the Virginia Woolf Bulletin, a literary magazine, and also works as a freelance literary consultant. She lives and works near Chichester Harbour.