路易斯·迪恩（Louise Dean）生于1970年，自剑桥大学历史系毕业之后，先后从事过销售及广告工作，1999年开始了全职写作生涯。《形同陌路》是她的处女作，获2004年贝蒂·特拉斯克（Betty Trask）处女作特别奖。

Dean was the winner of the Betty Trask Prize in 2004, long listed for the Man Booker Prize and the First Book prize and IMAP, winner of Le Prince Maurice prize in 2006. Dean writes about difficult and less glamorous themes. Her first book, , dealt with the themes of ageing, pancreatic cancer and Alzheimers. Her second book, , studied the Blanket or Dirty Protest in the H blocks in the lead up to the Hunger Strikein Northern Ireland in 1981 and the assassinations of prison warders. Her third book, , released in 2008, discusses mental illness, the pharmaceutical business and the exploitation of Africa.