Michael Gerard Bauer was born and lives in Brisbane Australia. In 2000 he resigned from his full-time position as an English/Economics teacher to pursue his dream of becoming a writer.In 2004 his first YA novel The Running Man was published to great acclaim. It subsequently won the 2005 Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year for Older Readers and was short-listed for the NSW, Victoria and South Australian State Premiers' Literary awards. In 2008 the German translation of The Running Man was short-listed for the German Youth Literature Prize and subsequently won the German Catholic Children's and Young People's Book Prize. In 2009 the Italian translation of The Running Man was a finalist for the "Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cento" Prize. In 2007 his second novel, a 'laugh out loud' comedy entitled Don't Call Me Ishmael! was short-listed in both the CBCA awards and the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and won the 2007 Children's Peace Literature Award and the 2008 South Australian Festival Award for Children's Literature. It was also included in the 2007 White Ravens selection for Outstanding International Books for children and young adults. Its sequel Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs was a 2008 CBCA Notable book and the final book in the trilogy Ishmael and the Hoops of steel was shortlisted for the 2012 CBCA awards. Michael's other books include, Dinosaur Knights a 2010 CBCA Notable Book described as 'an original and adrenalin-pumping adventure'; You Turkeys! an illustrated chapter book, part of the Scholastic Mates series for early readers; and Just a Dog which was a 2011 CBCA Honour Book and the winner of the 2011 Qld Premiers Award. Recently Michael has written a series of three humorous books for younger readers: Eric Vale Epic Fail; Eric Vale Super Male; and Eric Vale Off the Rails. Eric Vale Off the Rails was selected as one of the 2013 GET READING 50 Books You Can't Put Down. The books are fully illustrated by Michael's son Joe who as well as being a talented artist is an amazing young film-maker who with partner Rita Artmann make up Artspear Entertainment. Joe made the trailer for Eric Vale Epic Fail. youtube: http://youtu.be/7Hp1n7Jwe2k A spin-off series from the Eric Vale books featuring a character created by Eric himself - Secret Agent Derek 'Danger' Dale - is being released. The first book Secret Agent Derek 'Danger' Dale: The Case of Animals Behaving Really REALLY Badly was published in July 2014. The second book The Case of the Really REALLY Scary Things will be released Feb 2015.These days Michael is a full time writer. His books are widely set as school texts and he is in high demand for talks and workshops at schools and Festivals around Australia. He has also enjoyed three very successful visits to Indonesia as a writer in residence at the Jakarta International School (2007 and 2008) and the British International School (2008) as well as a week at the American Community School in Abu Dhabi. In 2010 he was a guest author at the White Ravens International Children's and Youth Literature Festival in Munich Germany and in 2012 he was invited to be part of the Edinburgh Book Festival in Scotland in 2012. Michael's books are currently sold in around 42countries including the UK and the USA and translated into 12 languages.