Scott Randall's An Unruly Little Animal grew out of a short story entitled 'The Gifted Class,' which was first published by The Dalhousie Review and later selected by Lynn Coady, Heather O'Neill, and Neil Smith for inclusion in McClelland & Stewart's anthology Journey Prize Stories 20. While Randall worked on the novel, an excerpted chapter for the book, entitled 'The Arithmetic of Common Ground,' was selected by Zsuzsi Gartner, Yasuko Thanh, and Jessica Johnson for The Walrus / Whistler Writers Adventure Camp prize, and the chapter later appeared in The Walrus. In addition to selecting Randall's 2015 story collection for the Ottawa Book Award, the city of Ottawa awarded a Creation grant for established literary artists for him to complete the manuscript of An Unruly Little Animal.

Scott Randall has previously published three collections: And To Say Hello (2014, DC Books), Character Actor (2008, Signature Editions), and Last Chance to Renew (2006, Signature Editions). His most recent collection won the 2015 Ottawa Book Award for fiction; two of his stories have been included in the Journey Prize anthologies (volumes 18 and 20); and he has published stories in periodicals such as The Malahat Review, Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, Grain, and Ottawa Magazine. He holds MA, MFA, and PhD degrees in Literature and Creative Writing and has taught writing at Seneca College, York University, Concordia University, and Algonquin College.