Scanlan was born in Dublin where she still lives. She was a Dublin City librarian for 17 years. While she was working, Scanlan was also writing her first novel because she was short of money. That book was published in 1992. Since then, she has published 19 novels, short stories, poems and edited anthologies. She is based in Clontarf.[1][2][3]
Scanlan is the creator of the Open Door Series for adult literacy and teaches creative writing to secondary school age girls.[4]
