Monica Byrne grew up in Annville, Pennsylvania, as the youngest child of two theologians. She studied biochemistry at Wellesley, NASA, and MIT before pivoting to fiction and theatre. She is the author of the novel The Girl in the Road, winner of the 2015 Otherwise Award; as well as the plays Nightwork, What Every Girl Should Know, Tarantino's Yellow Speedo, and Ohio!, which have been performed around the world.

She also performed the first science fictional TED talk in Vancouver. YShe is based in Durham, North Carolina, and loves a good thunderstorm.