Ana Maria Machado was born in 1941 in Rio de Janeiro and is one of the most significant children's book authors in Brazil. She has written more than a hundred books for children and adults. She started her career as a painter, worked as a journalist for the Elle magazine in Paris and for the BBC in London. In 1979, she opened the first children's literature bookshop in Brazil.

In the year 2000, Ana Maria Machado was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the most significant international prize for children's literature, for her life's work.

Some of Ana Maria's other children's books are available in English (published by Groundwood Books in Canada), but The History Mystery is her first children's book to be published in Ireland.