Qaisra Shahraz was born in Pakistan and brought up in Manchester, England, from the age of nine.
She studied English and Classical Civilization at the University of Manchester and went on to gain two Master Degrees at the University of Salford - in English and European Literature and in Scriptwriting for Television and Radio.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a director of Gatehouse Books, publishing books written by students for Skills for Life classes. She is an advisor for the University of Lancaster for a three-year writing project entitled 'Mediating Marginalities', and has hosted and led many workshops and seminars in creative writing, abroad and in the UK.

As a freelance journalist, she has contributed features and articles to various magazines and newspapers and has also had several short stories published in the UK and abroad, in particular in schools anthologies in Germany. One of her short stories, 'Perchavah', won the Ian St. James Award in 1994. She has also written plays for radio and television, including a screenplay adaptation of her first novel. Her award-winning drama serial Dil Hee To Hai (The Heart Is It) was broadcast on Pakistani Television and on Prime Television in 2003. A second serial, Tauheen (Insult), is in production.
Qaisra Shahraz is the author of two novels, and is working on a third. The first, The Holy Woman (2001), is a powerful love story, introducing the reader to the traditions of a vibrant world of four Muslim countries. It was awarded the title 'Best Book of the Month' by Waterstones. Her second novel is Typhoon (2003), a sequel set in the village of Chiraghpur.

She was shortlisted for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in 2002 and for the Muslim News Awards for Excellence in 2003. She lives with her family in Manchester.