Maurice Scully was born in Dublin in 1952. Active as an editor and organizer of talks, readings & performances in the 1980s, he began work in 1981 on what was to becomeThings That Happen. This is an eight-book project available now as 5 Freedoms of Movement, Livelihood (five books), Sonata, and Tig. Subsequent publications include two selections, Doing the Same in English and A Tour of the Lattice. Humming, a new book-length work, appeared in 2009. A CD from Wild Honey Press containing extracts from some of his books read by the author appeared in 2000 under the title Mouthpuller.

He is the recipient of an Irish Arts Council Macaulay Fellowship, an Irish Writers Centre Patrick and Katherine Fellowship, and two Irish Arts Council Bursaries. He was elected a member of Aosdana in 2009 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland.