Martine Halban gained her degree in English and French from Sussex University. She worked in publishing at Calder and Boyars, Oxford University and Murray Pollinger Literary Agency before moving to Jerusalem after her marriage to Peter Halban. Three years later they returned to London and founded Halban Publishers in 1986, publishing fiction, memoirs, biographies, and books on the Middle East and of Jewish interest.
A long-term trustee of the New Israel Fund, Halban is currently a member of the editorial board of the Jewish Quarterly.