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Olwen Wymark was born on February 14, 1932 in California. She moved to England to study at University College London from 1951 to 1952. Before this she had studied at the Liberal Arts College Pomona, between 1949 and 1951. She lived in London for most of her life. Whilst at University she met her future husband, Patrick Wymark and they were married in 1953. The couple had four children who Olwen continued to raise alone after Patrick Wymark’s sudden death in 1970, aged 44.

‘Find Me’ was written whilst she was working as a Writer in Residence at Kingston Polytechnic in Surrey in 1977. It was then performed at both Kingston Polytechnic and later at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1977.

In the acknowledgements at the start of the script, Wymark explains that she worked very closely with the parents of the child that the story is based on. Wymark thanks the parents of the girl that ‘Find Me’ is based on. She also thanks the students that worked with her in the development of the play through improvisation and discussion.

Wymark was one of the first female writers to tackle mental health issues. She was strongly influenced by the French absurdist theatre of Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett, and was known for her postmodern approach. These influences and the unusual subject content resulted in Find Me becoming one of Wymark’s most successful plays. She did however have many other publications. She worked with the Arts Council, the BBC and the National Theatre, writing a number of plays and going on to write countless adaptations for BBC radio. These included Gymnasium (1972), Loved (1980), Best Friends (1984), Strike Up The Banns (1990), and Mirror Mirror (1992). Radio adaptations include her 2001 version of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain.

Wymark was a member of the Royal Society for Literature and the Académie Française, an active member of the Theatre Writers’ Union, and also served on the Arts Council drama panel for some years. She died in June 2013.