Michael Small

Born in Croydon, Surrey, Michael Small was contracted in 1972 to teach English in Australia by the Education Department of Victoria. His first and second short stories were both published in The Sun-News Pictorial Short Story Competition and again in Her Natural Life and Other Stories. Since 1990 he has published many poems in Australia and overseas, many of which are humorous in tone. His four books include co-authoring Unleashed: a History of Footscray Football Club, while his most ambitious achievement is a series of fifty poems entitled Slanged, which traces the history of convicts from 1720 in London to 1860 in Williamstown. In this collection he makes use of the rich argot of the times to recreate a colourful but moving tableau that features both historical and fictitious characters. Slanged demonstrates a wide variety of poetic forms, from shaped pieces to narratives, free verse to sonnets, monologues to plays for voices.