Stephen Gilbert (1912–2010) was born at Newcastle, County Down (Northern Ireland). He worked for the Northern Whig until the mid-1930s when he joined the family firm of McCausland in Belfast. In 1939 he joined the Supplementary Reserve and served with the 3rd Ulster Searchlight Regiment in France. His wartime memories, including the evacuation at Dunkirk, form the basis of Bombardier (1944).
Gilbert was a friend and protégé of Forrest Reid.
His last novel, Ratman's Notebooks (1968), was adapted to filmed as Willard.
Stephen Gilbert died at a nursing home at Whitehead, north of Carrickfergus, County Antrim on 23 June 2010.,
In 2012 Valancourt Books began reprinting the works of Stephen Gilbert. The Landslide, Monkeyface, The Burnaby Experiments and Ratman's Notebooks are currently in print with Bombardier scheduled for 2015.