Michael Thomas was born and raised in Carnarvon, Western Australia, and spent his formative years travelling across the vast Gascoyne–Pilbara region with his father, who was a shearer. After graduating from university, he returned to teach in the Gascoyne–Murchison before eventually settling in Perth. He retired in 2021 to write his memoirs but gave up when fact and fiction became entangled. The Map of William is his first novel.