Robert Adamson is the author of The Golden Bird (winner of the CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry in the 2009 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards) and editor of The Best Australian Poems 2009. He has published numerous volumes of poetry in Australia and overseas. His previous volume of poems, The Goldfinches of Baghdad, won the Age Book of the Year Award for poetry and was short-listed for the NSW and Queensland premiers' awards. His memoir, Inside Out (2004), was short-listed for the Age Book of the Year Award, the NSW Premier's Literary Award, the State Library of NSW Biography Award and the Queensland Premier's Award.