Philip Gwynne was born in 1958 in Melbourne and grew up with seven brothers and sisters in South Australia where his stories about Blacky, Dumby Red and Clarence are also set. Philip Gwynne has had many diverse professions. Before he started writing, he was a professional 'Australian Rules' footballer. When an injury ended his football career he completed marine biology studies and then travelled extensively. He worked as a teacher in Thailand and as a programmer in Belgium and lived for a while in Brazil before settling in Sydney with his son. Gwynne only started writing a few years ago. Inspired by the regular evening stories which he read to his son, he visited a creative writing seminar given by the Australian children's book author Libby Gleeson. During this time he developed the idea for his first young people's novel.