New Zealand writer Gill Winter spent eleven years working as publicist and public programmes organiser at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, one of the country's premier contemporary art museums. She left the art world in 1999 to create Flying Piglets, a touring agency for folk and blues musicians. During the next few years she also worked as marketing manager for the Lake Taupo and Taranaki Arts Festivals, helped on the family pig farm and was a regular volunteer for Trade Aid, New Zealand’s largest Fair Trade organisation. In 2009, she wound up Flying Piglets and completed a CELTA course in teaching English as a second language. In 2010, she answered an advertisement on the Jobs page of Dave’s ESL Café website for volunteer teachers to work in Dharamshala, India. She is married with two adult children and lives in Taranaki, New Zealand.