Tammy Armstrong is the youngest narrative poet ever to be short listed for the Governor-General's award. Raised in the border town of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Armstrong has lived in Vancouver, Halifax, and Fredericton, and travelled extensively in Europe, Mexico and Central America. Take Us Quietly was conceived four years ago while she was living on the West Coast. "I had a lot of friends who were either dealing with death and illness in their families or starting their own families. There always seemed to be updates regarding the ill or the pregnant so I definitely wanted to explore this more." Armstrong's writing appears frequently in Canadian and international literary magazines, including The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, New American Writing and The Salzburg Review. Along with three books of poetry, Armstrong has also produced a novel, Translations: Airstreann, which won the David Adams Richards fiction prize.

A version of Bogman's Music, her first poetry collection, won the Alfred Bailey poetry prize, and was later a finalist for the Governor General's Award for poetry. Armstrong has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and has worked as an ESL instructor and waitress. She now makes her home in Fredericton with her partner and their dog Ridley. She is a literacy instructor for adults living with physical disabilities.