Miriam Shaw was born on Long Island, New York, in 1957. She received two college degrees from Buffalo State College, one in art and the other in computers. She returned to her Jewish roots at the age of 28 and attended the seminaries of Bais Chana (Minnesota), Machon Chana (Brooklyn), and Machon Alte (Israel). She was married in 1986 to Dovid Shaw from England, and they lived in Liverpool for 9 years. They currently live in Manchester.

Besides attending to the demands of a large family, Miriam creates and teaches art, does calligraphy and writes and sings her own songs. She has produced three recordings of her original music, has had the lyrics to one of her songs published in a volume of The International Library of Poetry and also in Natural Parent Magazine. One of her songs has even become a popular girls’ camp song. She has been performing to women’s groups throughout England since 1989.