Jorid Mathiassen (b. 1965) grew up on the Helgeland coast up north, and now lives in Oslo. She has a major in Nordic language and literature from the University of Oslo and has the last ten years worked as a publishing editor at Cappelen Damm, and currently at Strawberry Publishing. Prior to being a publishing editor, she worked as a journalist in the magazine Bok & samfunn. Where the White Lilies Grow is her debut novel.