Simon Cleary, the author of The Comfort of Figs (UQP, 2008), grew up in a house in Toowoomba overlooking an enormous Moreton Bay Fig tree.  After leaving Toowoomba Simon studied Arts (majoring in literature) and Law at the University of Queensland, between 1986 and 1991. 

Following university Simon worked for many years as a public interest lawyer, including at Redfern Legal Centre in Sydney, and with the Legal Aid office in Queensland.  He has recently returned to Brisbane after spending four years in Melbourne.

In 2006 Simon was Emerging Writer-in-Residence at the Queensland Writers’ Centre. 

The Comfort of Figs is about genesis: of a city (Brisbane), a bridge (the Story Bridge), a family, and the Moreton Bay Fig trees which compete with the growing metropolis of Brisbane for survival.  Simon’s great-grandfather worked as an engineer on the Story Bridge during its construction, and his great-grandfather’s private papers provided some of the inspiration for the novel.

The Comfort of Figs is Simon’s first novel.  He is currently working on his next.