Anne Anderson has had a forty-five year career in Irish diplomacy. She joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1972, on the eve of Ireland's entry to the European Economic Community. She retired in 2017 from her final diplomatic posting as Ireland's Ambassador to the United States. Prior to this she also served as Ireland's Ambassador to France; to the United Nations, both in Geneva and New York; and to the European Union in Brussels. She was the first woman to represent Ireland in each of these roles.

Her speeches collected in Thinking With My Pen cover a wide range of themes, including reflections on Irish foreign policy; on the EU and the United Nations; on culture and on gender.They illustrate the breadth and richness - as well as some of the challenges and complexities - of a life in diplomacy.