Michael Sala was born in the Netherlands to a Greek father and Dutch mother, and spent his early childhood moving between Europe and Australia. His first manuscript, MEMORY VERTIGO, was shortlisted for the Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 2007. His autobiographical first novel THE LAST THREAD (Affirm Press, 2012) won the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards in 2013 and the Commonwealth Book Prize (Pacific Region), 2013. His second novel, THE RESTORER, was published by Text in 2017, longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2018, and shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, and the Australian Book Industry Award’s Small Publisher’s Adult Book of the Year. Sala is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Newcastle.