Tobacco

Nigel Gray was born in a farm shed in Ireland. At twelve months old, during the Second World War, he was taken to England and never saw his father, nor brother and sister again. He went into a series of foster homes, a children's home, and later lived with his mother. Gray left school only semi-literate, and became involved in petty criminality. He planned to work his way overland to Australia and spent two years travelling and working in ten European countries. He became an anarchist, was involved in numerous political causes, was arrested many times, locked up on a number of occasions, and deported for political offences from four countries.

Gray worked as an unskilled manual worker for eleven years, but earned a B. A. in English and Politics, and an M. A. in Creative Writing from British universities in the process. He went to South East Asia as part of a non-violent action group in 1967 to oppose the American War, was involved in civil unrest in several countries in 1968, worked for the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Campaign in 1972, and visited South Africa to oppose apartheid, as well as some of the Soviet Bloc countries.

Gray began writing when he was in prison in Thailand. He began with performance poetry, and went on to write non-fiction, and then stories, novels, plays, and children's books. He set up a commune in Cumbria, did work for People Not Psychiatry, and established a major Arts Festival. Gray has been writing professionally for thirty years, and has more than sixty books published, in twenty-six countries and twenty-four languages, winning various awards and honours.

Gray finally arrived in Western Australia in 1988, over twenty years later than he'd intended, having migrated under the special category of artists and sports people of international reputation, and has been an Australian citizen since 1990. He is a member and a past president of his branch of PEN, the writers' organization with special concern for writers thro