O'Mahony was born in Dublin in 1964 and lives in Rathfarnham. She teaches creative writing at University College Dublin and the Open University, among other places, and works as a freelance writer and editor. She was appointed writer in residence at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies at UCD in October 2008 and was writer in residence at the Poetry and Poetics Centre at the University of South Australia in May 2009. Her poetry has appeared in a number of Irish, UK, and North American periodicals and has been translated into several European languages. This is her third poetry collection.