Venero Armanno was born in Brisbane in 1959 of Sicilian parents. He holds a BA (Psychology) from UQ, a Diploma in Scriptwriting (AFTRS), and MA and PhD degrees in Creative Writing from QUT. He is the author of Jumping at the Moon (1992), The Lonely Hunter (1993), Romeo of the Underworld (1994), My Beautiful Friend (1995), Strange Rain (1996), Firehead (1999), The Volcano (2001), Candle Life (2006) and The Dirty Beat (2007). The Volcano won the 2002 Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Best Fiction. It was also short-listed for the Courier Mail's Book of the Year. Firehead was short-listed in the 2000 Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Best Fiction. My Beautiful Friend was runner-up in the Aurealis Best Science Fiction and Horror Award (1996), and Jumping at the Moon was equal runner-up in the Steele Rudd Award for best short story collection (1993). A play 'Blood and Pasta' was short-listed for the George Landen Dann Award (1995). Armanno has also written three illustrated books for children, a number of film scripts, and many short stories. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland.