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Mariam Al Saedi was born in 1974 in Al Ain. She gained an English Literature degree from UAE University and postgraduate certificates in Urban Planning from the American University of Sharjah and in Jerusalem Studies from Aberdeen University in Scotland. She currently works for the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport while simultaneously developing her writing career. Since November 2010 she has written a weekly cultural column for Al Ittihad.

A rising young literary talent, Mariam has published three collections of short stories: مريموالحظالسعيد (Mariam and the Good Fortune),  أبدوذكية (I Look Smart), and most recently نوارس تشي جيفارا (Seagulls of Che Guevara), published March 2012. The quest for personal enlightenment and individual freedom is the main theme of Seagulls’ stories.

Her short story 'The Old Woman' was included in the collection In a Fertile Desert (edited and translated by Denys Johnson-Davies). Mariam has also contributed two short stories translated into English to Banipal magazine’s issue on the literature of the Emirates.

In October 2010 Mariam, along with other 6 Arab writers, took part in a writers’ workshop in Abu Dhabi. Dubbed Nadwa (which translates as 'workshop') and sponsored by International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the workshop aims to produce original pieces of fiction that will then be published internationally in Arabic and English.