Alan Attwood was born in Scotland in 1957 and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1961. He has worked as an abalone packer, a dishwasher and a mail sorter but, since 1978, mainly as a journalist. From 1995 to 1998 he was the New York-based correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and more recently he has been a columnist for The Age. He was shortlisted for The Australian/Vogel Literary Award with Sinking Into Winter in 1990, and his novel Breathing Underwater was published in 1997. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and three children.

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