Budge Wilson was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and attended Dalhousie University and the University of Toronto. Since 1984, she has published thirty-two books, with twenty foreign editions appearing in the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Romania, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Australia. Her stories appear in ninety anthologies, in Braille format, and as audiobooks. Her many prizes include nineteen Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" awards, the City of Dartmouth Book Award, the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Canadian Book Award, the Marianna Dempster Award, the Ann Connor Brimer Award, and the Lilla Stirling Award. Her collection of short stories The Leaving was named a Notable Book by the American Library Association and was later included on the association's list of "The 75 Best Children's Books of the Last 25 Years." Wilson has also been awarded the Municipality of Halifax Mayor's Award for Cultural Achievement in Literature and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Armbrae Academy, Halifax. In 2004, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.