Isla Dewar's first book, Keeping Up with Magda, was published in 1995. Dewar found success with her second novel, Women Talking Dirty, the film of which starred Helena Bonham Carter. She contributed to the collection Scottish Girls about Town and has also written for children. Her most recent novel, It Takes One to Know One, was published by Polygon in 2018. Born in Edinburgh, Isla lives in the East Neuk of Fife with her husband, political cartoonist Bob Dewar.