Daria Wilke, a Moscow native, was born into a family of puppeteers and grew up in the theater. She did her homework sitting in dressing rooms, played with lighting technicians, and hid in the storeroom of  puppets and huge masks. While dreaming of becoming an actress and director, she earned a degree in psychology. After graduation she worked in radio, and became a reporter for one of the biggest daily newspapers in Russia. She left Russia for Vienna in 2000, taking a position at the University of Vienna in the Dept. of Slavonic Languages. Her books for children and young adults have been shortlisted for the Cherished Dream, Baby NOS, Vyacheslav Krapivin award, and the Kniguru Prize, National Russian Literature prizes. Her adult novel Off Season was awarded the Russkaya Premia Award in 2012