Venero Armanno was born in Brisbane, and has studied at the University of Queensland, the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, Queensland University of Technology, and the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. The son of Sicilian migrants, he has travelled and worked widely throughout the world. In 1995, 1997 and 1999 he lived and worked at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, and he is frequently invited to speak about his work in Spain and Germany. He is the author of a book of short stories, Jumping at the Moon, and the novels THE LONELY HUNTER, ROMEO OF THE UNDERWORLD, MY BEAUTIFUL FRIEND, STRANGE RAIN and FIREHEAD, which has also been published in the USA, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. THE LONELY HUNTER is being rereleased into Vintage to mark the publication of THE VOLCANO, the final volume of the Romeo trilogy, in October 2001