When quizzed about his own memories of school, author Michael Gerard Bauer recollects three things clearly:
1. His ambition was to become a Samurai warrior.
2. Standing in front of his fellow students was as daunting a prospect for him as it is for his central character, Ishmael.
3. He never thought about writing.
Fortunately for his readers, soon after graduating from the University of Queensland, Michael quickly traded in his dreams of martial arts expertise, became a teacher and began to write.
Michael has since discovered that he is, after all, rather good at writing and has received a raft of awards for Don’t Call Me Ishmael, including the 2008 South Australian Festival Award for Literature, the 2007 Children's Peace Prize. In 2007 he was also shortlisted for the CBCA Award for Older Readers and the White Ravens festival at the Bologna Book Fair.
Michael now lives in the beautiful Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove with his family. Don’t Call Me Ishmael was his first book to be published in the UK.
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