Roisin McAuley is the daughter of a chemist and grew up in Cookstown in County Tyrone in the 1950s, went to a convent boarding school, and then to Queen's University Belfast to study history. She joined BBC Northern Ireland as a newsreader and announcer, going on to become a reporter for BBC programmes such as Spotlight, Newsnight, Panorama and File on 4. She has also produced and directed television documentaries for ITV and Channel 4 and written and presented programmes on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She lives in Reading with her husband, Richard.
Roisin McAuley's first two novels, Singing Bird and Meeting Point, were sold at auction to Headline (world rights) who published in 2004 and 2005. The US rights sold to HarperCollins, Dutch rights to House of Books and the German rights to Droemer. The rights to Roisin McAuley's next two books were sold to Time Warner Books UK in 2005.
Roisin is the sister of BBC broadcaster and musician Tony McAuley and niece of Glens of Antrim painter Charles McAuley.