[1] Her father was Oswald Leslie De Kretser III, a judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon.

She worked as an editor for a travel guides company Lonely Planet, and while on a sabbatical in 1999, wrote and published her first novel, The Rose Grower.

Her second novel, The Hamilton Case, was winner of the Tasmania Pacific Prize, the Encore Award (in the UK) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Southeast Asia and Pacific).

From 1989 to 1992, she was a founding editor of the Australian Women's Book Review.

This is the third time Michelle de Kretser has won this prize and equals Peter Carey's record of wins.