Nick Earls emigrated to Australia from Northern Ireland at the age of nine in 1972 with his parents and sister, and attended the Anglican Church Grammar School while living in Brisbane. He completed a medical degree at the University of Queensland, and worked as a GP before turning to writing.

Zigzag Street, his second novel, won the Betty Trask Award in 1998 (sharing with Kiran Desai's Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard). His young-adult novel, 48 Shades of Brown, won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for older readers in 2000. Several of his novels (After January and 48 Shades of Brown) have been adapted for theatre, and 48 Shades of Brown was adapted into a film entitled 48 Shades, released in August, 2006. Earls has also written other novels, including Bachelor Kisses (which borrows its title from a song by incendiary Brisbane band The Go-Betweens), Perfect Skin, World of Chickens, The Thompson Gunner, and young adult novels After January, and Making Laws for Clouds.

Earls has also contributed to the four best-selling anthologies in the Girls' Night In series as well as Kids' Night In and Kids' Night In 2 as editor. His most recent novels are The True Story of Butterfish, about a former rock star re-adjusting to mundane life in the Brisbane suburbs; Monica Bloom, based on his own adolescent experience of an ill-fated crush; and Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with fellow Brisbane author Rebecca Sparrow.

Several of his books have been adapted for the stage by Brisbane's La Boite Theatre.

Nick Earls