Paola Peretti is Italian and was born in the province of Verona, where she still lives today. She studied literature and philosophy and graduated in publishing and journalism in 2011 with a thesis on gender discrimination in literature. Between 2015 and 2016 she attended the Palomar School of creative writing in Rovigo. During and after her studies she worked as a waitress, bartender, baby sitter and teacher, while writing articles for the local newspaper.

Fifteen years ago, she discovered that she was affected by a rare genetic illness called Stargadt Disease which causes progressive vision loss, and eventually blindness. There is no cure to date.

She is currently teaching Italian to immigrant children from Senegal, Nigeria, China, Romania, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Moldova and Russia.

The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree is her first novel.

Denise Muir has been translating from Italian to English since 1998 and in 2014 published her first short story translation. Since then she has published picture and educational books with Italian publishers, championed Italian children's novels and published a YA novel with Barrington Stoke's Bucket List. Denise writes a blog about inclusive children's books, works with local libraries to promote reading in the community, performs as a storyteller in Italian and English, and collaborates with the Italian Children's Writers Association, Outside In World, small Italian independent presses and a literary agency publishing strong voices for young readers. Denise divides her time between Edinburgh and Abruzzo, Italy.