Anson Cameron was born in Shepparton, Victoria, in 1961. His first novel, Silences Long Gone, released in 1998, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. He has since written four more novels - Tin Toys (2000), Confessing the Blues (2002), Lies I Told About a Girl (2006) and Stealing Picasso (2009) - and the short story collection Pepsi Bear and other Stories. He lives in Melbourne where he writes a column for The Age newspaper.