Mary Lawson is a Canadian novelist born in 1946. She hails from southwestern Ontario and spent her formative years in Blackwell, Ontario. Notably, she is a distant relative of L. M. Montgomery, the renowned author of Anne of Green Gables.

After completing her degree in psychology at McGill University in 1968, Lawson moved to England. She is married, has two grown sons, and currently resides in Kingston-Upon-Thames, Surrey. Her literary work, primarily published by Knopf Canada, often features settings in Northern Ontario.