About Rae

Rae Cairns is a former youth worker who worked in Northern Ireland during the final years of ‘The Troubles’ mentoring children of the paramilitaries ( the Republican IRA and Protestant UVF). Rae has also co-managed a crisis refuge for street children, worked as Program Director for the Sydney Olympic Youth Camp and holds a degree in Performing Arts. Rae is fascinated with how ordinary people manage when faced with extraordinary circumstances and the lengths everyday characters will go when all they love is put at risk. When she’s not playing around with the lives of her imaginary characters she loves to read, hike, travel and sing. Rae lives in Sydney with her husband, two children and her dog, Alfie, who snores at her feet when she writes.