Writer and freelance journalist Val Mulkerns was born in Dublin. After working in the civil service and living in London, she returned to Ireland in 1952 as Associate Editor of The Bell and has continued her career as a broadcaster and journalist. Two early novels, A Time Outworn and A Peacock Cry, were followed by a sequence of short stories Antiquities (1978). Following this came another collection An Idle Woman (1980) and two novels, The Summerhouse (1984) and Very Like a Whale (1986). Another collection of short stories A Friend of Don Juan was published in 1988.

She is also the author of two books for children published in Germany. In 1984 she was awarded the AIB Prize for Literature. She is a founder member of Aosdána. At present she is working on a memoir, Friends with the Enemy.