Nick Earls is the author of eleven novels and two collections of short stories. Five of his novels have become stage plays and two have been adapted into feature films, with some scenes of 48 Shades filmed at UQ’s St Lucia campus. Solo un Padre, the film version of Perfect Skin, was a top ten box office success in Italy in 2008. Awards he has won include a Betty Trask Award in the UK for Zigzag Street and a Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for 48 Shades of Brown.

He was the founding Chair of the Australian office of the aid agency War Child, and an editor of and contributor to anthologies that have raised $3million for the agency. He also instigated a War Child/Rotary project that helped restock the school libraries of the Solomon Islands with over 10,000 books.

Nick Earls graduated from UQ with Honours in Medicine in 1986, and in 2006 was named Alumnus of the Year.