John Forbes was born in Melbourne in 1950 and lived much of his early life in New Guinea, Malaya and Sydney. He graduated from the University of Sydney and worked as a teacher of creative writing, as a reviewer and as a furniture removalist. He won the Poetry Society of Australia New Poetry Award in 1972 and the Southerly Award for young writers in 1976. He received Literature Board grants in 1973 – 1974, 1982, 1988 and 1981 and an Arts Victoria Grant in 1994. Early in his career, he was associated with the young Sydney writers associated with New Poetry. Later in the 1990s, he was associated with Scripsi magazine, and with other experimental poets. He co-edited the journal Leatherjacket and edited the magazine Surfers Paradise. His poetry was widely published in literary magazines both in Australia and overseas. He published seven books of poetry. His final volume Damaged Glamour was published after his death in 1998.