Ms Gilbert was born in January 1950 in Adelaide, South Australia, youngest daughter of Melbourne Napoleon Gilbert and inheritor of 5 generations of ?Napoleons?. Educated at Black Forest and Glenelg Primary Schools and Woodlands CEGGS, she matriculated in 1967. In 1968 she was a Rotary Exchange student to El Paso, Texas and in 1969 attended the SA School of Art in Adelaide. After a failed marriage she studied Secondary Art Teaching at Underdale CAE and in 1980 married Kevin, a marriage which has lasted 36 years. She has three sons, Stephen, Jamie and Paul and several grandchildren. Ms Gilbert has been an educator for 27 years and has a Masters degree in Special Education. She has recently retired and is now working on several novels. Her hobbies are in property investment and travelling.