Gordon Jarvie was born in Edinburgh in 1941 and currently lives in Fife. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, he has worked as a teacher, publisher and writer.

His poetry has appeared in a wide range of journals and newspapers and he has also published information books for children and several successful guides to grammar and punctuation, including The Bloomsbury Grammar Guide (2007).

His numerous anthologies, including Irish Folk and Fairy Tales,100 Favourite Scottish Poems to Read Out Loud and Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales from Burns to Buchan, are celebrations of folklore, magic and heroism.