Michael Ackland teaches in the English Department at Monash University in Melbourne. He gained his PhD from the Australian National University and has also spent time at universities in the United States and Germany. The author of three books of Australian Poetry and Prose - Charles Harpur: Selected Poetry and Prose, Henry Kendall and A Sydney Sovereign - Michael has also contributed to the Penguin Book of Nineteenth Century Australian Literature, and has written many articles for literary journals.