Barbara Sumner is an author and filmmaker. Her back catalogue of achievements includes producing three highly acclaimed feature documentaries, a career in journalism, event production, television, bringing up four daughters and being accepted into a Masters program at the tender age of 60.

Barbara lives with her husband Thomas Burstyn in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, with a curmudgeonly ginger cat. She spends her time reading, writing, walking, and corrupting her grandchildren with wild ideas about life, love, and imagination. The Gallows Bird is her debut novel.