Billy Marshall-Stoneking: Contents page

Billy Marshall-Stoneking (b.1947) is an Australian/ American poet/ playwright and author of seven books, including Singing the Snake: Poems from the Western Desert, and the play Sixteen Words for Water (both published by HarperCollins). He has written and produced documentary films detailing his experiences during five years he lived with tribal Aboriginal people in Central Australia. In 1988, he was awarded the prestigious Bill Harney Prize for Poetry. His poems have been anthologized in Off the Record (ed. Pi O for Penguin Books), The New Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse (ed. Les Murray), The Penguin Book of Contemporary Australian Poetry (ed. John Tranter and Philip Mead), and were featured in ABC-TV’s groundbreaking documentary film, Call It Poetry. He currently lectures in screenwriting at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.