Michèle Forbes was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and studied English and Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin.

She worked as a script reader for the Abbey Theatre and subsequently began acting with the Abbey Theatre Company, touring worldwide with such productions as The Great Hunger and Dancing at Lughnasa . Her film work includes the BAFTA winning Omagh (Paul Greengrass) for which she won Best Actress Monte Carlo and was nominated Best Actress at the Irish Film &Television Awards. Her short stories have won both The Bryan MacMahon and The Michael McLaverty Awards. Her first novel Ghost Moth was shortlisted for Newcomer of the Year Irish Book Awards, the First Book Award Edinburgh International Book Festival, nominated for the First European Novel Award at Chambery’s Festival du Premier Roman, the Prix Escapades, the French Booksellers Novel Discovery Selection, the Prix des Lectrices Elle, and most recently for the Ireland Francophonie Ambassador’s Literary Award 2017. Her second novel Edith & Oliver was a Sunday Times Book of the Year.