Martha Pregal migrated to Australia from Argentina with her husband and two young children in 1965. The family decided to leave Argentina because they saw Australia as offering more opportunities, and because Mr Pregal, who was of Calabrian ethnicity, had family members already living here. Although Martha had graduated as a teacher in 1957, upon arrival in Melbourne she worked at the Gloweave factory.

After her retirement Martha dedicated herself to poetry. She completed a course on professional writing at RMIT, ran the Melbourne-based literary workshop 'Ateneo,' and was a member of the literary and artistic group 'Germinal.' She contributed to the anthology Twigs and Leaves: Stories from the Family Tree' in 1997 and her work was published in 'The Big Issue' and 'Roomers', a magazine for distribution in rooming houses to which she contributed the regularly appearing 'Martha's Column'.

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