Born in 1970, Anna Gavalda was a teacher whose collection of stories, I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere, shot her to fame (published in the UK with her novella Someone I Loved). Her novel Hunting and Gathering (Ensemble c'est tout) was a bestseller in several countries, selling over two million copies, and was made into a film; this was followed by Consolation. Her books have been translated into thirty-six languages. The mother of two children, she lives and writes just outside Paris.