Margaret Pont is an Australian scientist who worked in genetic engineering and bioethics for thirty years. She later completed her Master of Fine Arts and studied Italian literature at the University of Melbourne. Now an independent scholar of early Christianity and Franciscanism, she has published widely, including a monograph on Arthur Boyd and Saint Francis of Assisi (2004) which was followed by a ground-breaking tapestry exhibition in Australia and an international conference celebrating 800 years of the Franciscan Order. For the last twenty-five years she has divided her time between Melbourne and Assisi.