Julian Croft was first published by Max Harris and Geoffrey Dutton in 1962 and since then has published four volumes of poetry, two novels, one of which was long listed for the Miles Franklin award, and a wide range of literary criticism. His poetry been widely anthologised and broadcast, including a long poem in the form of a radio feature by the ABC. He has also written for the stage. He initially trained in film at the Commonwealth Film Unit, but spent most of his working life as an academic in Africa, Europe and Australia. In 1978, along with three others, he founded the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, which remains the major academic body promoting the nation's literature. He is an Emeritus Professor of English at the University of New England. His volume of poems Breakfasts in Shanghai (Angus & Robertson, 1985), won the Asia-Pacific Section of the British Airways Prize in 1986). Many of his poems are about Newcastle NSW where he grew up and where his family have lived since the early nineteenth century.