The Half Dead

Garry Disher was born in Burra in the mid-north of South Australia in 1949. He has an Arts degree from The University of Adelaide, a Diploma of Education from La Trobe University, and an MA in history from Monash University. He has lived and worked in England, Europe and Africa and now makes his home writing full-time on the Victorian coast. In 1978-79 he held the Australian Creative Writing Fellowship at Stanford University.

Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the ‘good drawer’ which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class. He graduated from the University of WA in 1995 with joint honours in Fine Arts and English Literature, and currently works full time as a freelance artist and author in Melbourne. Shaun began drawing and painting images for science fiction and horror stories in small-press magazines as a teenager, and has since become best known for illustrated books that deal with social, political and historical subjects through surreal, dream-like imagery. Shaun has also worked as a theatre designer, and worked as a concept artist for the films Horton Hears a Who and Pixar’s WALL-E. He is currently directing a short film with Passion Pictures Australia.