I was born in Portugal in December 1953 but in 1966 my family moved to Rodez, France to escape political and economic repression. About a year later, we moved again to Australia, with France not providing the opportunities that my father desired. I was 13 years old and could not speak a word of English but by the end of high school had become one of the brightest students. As an adult, I became a lawyer, public servant and then a theatre artist. I also became a father in 1993. In 2006, I returned to Portugal with my life partner Fiona, where I have worked as a translator, English tutor and playback theatre practitioner. I have written poems throughout my life and after studying theatre in Australia also wrote a number of plays and film scripts. More recently, I have become interested in autobiographical writing and am currently working on two projects: one, a memoir inspired by my poems and two, a novel.