Samuel Wagan Watson is an award-winning poet and professional raconteur. Born in Brisbane in 1972, Samuel began his writing career in Grade 7, when a teacher entered one of short stories in a Queensland-schools competition. The judges remarked that it was the worst writing they'd ever encountered!

Samuel's 4th collection of poetry, Smoke Encrypted Whispers won the 2005 NSW Premier's Award for the Book of the Year and the national Kenneth Slessor poetry prize. He has performed his poetry throughout the world and was recently commissioned by the Japanese Aeronautical Exploration Agency to write haiku for the pleasure of the astronauts on the International Space Platform.

Samuel is a writer for one of Australia's most established Indigenous radio stations, 98.9FM Murri Country.