Eric Rolls was born in 1925, and brought up in Northern New South Wales. Since 1948 he has farmed his own land, first at Boggabri, then at Baradine. His published work includes collections of poetry and children's books. He spent six years researching and writing A Million Wild Acres , for which he was awarded the Age Book of the Year Award in 1981. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities