Ken Goodwin was lecturer at Wagga Wagga and the University of Queensland, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of South Queensland, and on retirement from full-time work was appointed Honorary Professor of English at the University of Queensland. He was the founding Chair of the South Pacific Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies and later Chair of the international body. As well as his writing on Australian literature he has published 'Understanding African Poetry' (1982) and edited the Routledge 'Encyclopaedia of Post-Colonial Literatures' (1994).

The objectives of ACLALS are to promote and coordinate Commonwealth Literature Studies, organize seminars and workshops, arrange lectures by writers and scholars, publish a newsletter about activities in the field of Commonwealth Literature and hold one conference triennially.