Emma van der Vliet was born in Grahamstown (now Makhanda) and spent most of her childhood there. After graduating from UCT and Rhodes, she accidentally spent ten years working in film production. She later returned to UCT, taught film and media, got her MA in creative writing, her PhD in Film and Media Studies, and produced several children. She lives in Observatory with her family and other animals.

She is the author of two novels, Past Imperfect (2007) and Thirty Second World (2013), both published by Penguin. She has also written short stories (including  Threesome, which was published in the Touch anthology of South African short stories edited by Karina Magdalena Szczurek), film scripts, academic articles, research reports, and a PhD.