Paris 1928

American author Henry Miller (1891 – 1980) was a major force in literature in the late 1950s, largely because his two most important novels, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, were banned from publication and sale in the United States for many years for its sexual content. Tropic of Cancer was a loosely constructed autobiographical novel describing his struggles during his first years in Paris. His work’s freedom of language and subject helped lead the way for Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

Lynn Hard was born in 1938 in Texas and grew up in Los Angeles. He came to Australia in 1977 and retired in 1998 as the chief librarian at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He has written and performed his poetry since the late '50s. He has 3 books of poems out with a 4th soon to appear. He lives in Sydney with his partner Helen and an unmanageably large collection of jazz recordings.