Following a globally successful corporate career in communications and event management, Sally Colin-James returned to creative writing, gaining an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship to complete a Doctor of Philosophy in professional writing.

Her novel One Illumined Thread won the 2020 HNSA Colleen McCullough Residency Award, the 2020 Varuna PIP Fellowship Award, the Byron Bay Writers Festival Mentorship Award, and a placement with the Australian Writers Mentoring program. Her work was shortlisted from over 2000 entries across 54 countries for the international 2021 First Pages Prize.