Mandy Hager is a trained primary school teacher, who has specialised in working with children and adults with learning disabilities. She is a published fiction writer. One of her children's books, Run for the Trees (1999, Steele Roberts), a thriller with a dyslexic protagonist, has been adapted for audiotape and was short-listed for Can Read 2000. Mandy also works part-time as a writing mentor for Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Porirua, and has been involved in the New Zealand Book Council's Writer in Schools scheme and the Nestle Write Around New Zealand competition.