Elaine Russell was born in Tingha, northern New South Wales, in 1941. She spent her childhood in La Perouse and, later, on the Aboriginal mission at Murrin Bridge, where her father was a handyman. In 1993, Elaine enrolled in a visual arts course and was finally able to realise her lifelong ambition to be a painter.

Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. In the 2001 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards her first book, A is for Aunty, was shortlisted for the Picture Book Award and was an Eve Pownall Information Book Honour Book.

Elaine has six children, ten grandchildren and a cat called Cuddles, and lives in Glebe, New South Wales.
Her new book, The Shack That Dad Built, about her life on the shores of Botany Bay on Sydney's urban fringes before the family move to Murrin Bridge, will be published in May 2004.