Dirk Strasser was born in Offenbach, Germany, but has lived most his life in Australia. He has been a teacher of Mathematics and German, a textbook writer, educational software developer, a Senior Publisher at Harcourt Education and Publishing Manager Pearson Education. Dirk has written over 30 books. He has won multiple Australian Publisher Association Awards, a Ditmar for Best Professional Achievement, and has been short-listed for the Aurealis and Ditmar Awards a number of times. His short story, 'The Doppelgänger Effect', appeared in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology, Dreaming Down Under. His acclaimed fantasy series, The Books of Ascension (Zenith, Equinox and Eclipse), was published by Pan Macmillan in Australia and by Heyne Verlag in Germany. His fiction has been translated into a number of languages. He founded the Aurealis Awards and has co-published Aurealis - Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction - for over 20 years.