Introduction

Samuel Wagan Watson is a poet with five published books and two major awards for his writing, the Queensland Premiers Literary Awards, David Unaipon Prize for Unpublished Indigenous Writers (1999) and the NSW Premiers Literary Award, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry Book of the Year (2005).

He was born in Brisbane in 1972 of mixed European and Aboriginal descent and has a variety of rich life experiences which form a backdrop to his work. Watson writes about his observations of the everyday world and about Aboriginal culture. His writing style is direct and unstructured, rarely using capital letters. Besides his parents, his major influences are musicians.

While Watson makes international tours in relation to his writing, he also mentors young people and presents workshops in schools.