James Cowan was born and educated in Australia. He has worked in Canada, London, New York, Marrakech, Menorca, Mauritius, Libya and Paris. He has also lived among the tribal peoples of North Africa and the Torres Strait Islands. His work has now been translated into dozens of languages, and it ranges from creative non-fiction, photography with essays, poetry, fiction to art criticism, children's fiction and autobiography. His internationally acclaimed books include A Mapmaker's Dream - a winner of the Commonwealth Writer's Prize - and Letters from a Wild State, as well as a number of richly illustrated books on contemporary Aboriginal art. Recently returned to his native Australia from an expatriate life in Tuscany, he and his wife Wendy currently live on a remote farm some distance from Sydney. He lectures, writes articles, and has made a series of documentaries for Australian TV on Aborigine culture and way of life.