JANIS BALODIS was born in Australia of Latvian parents who settled in North Queensland after the Second World War. He majored in drama at Townsville Teachers' College and worked as a primary school teacher until 1972. After a varied acting and directing career based in Brisbane and later in London where he was a director and tutor at E15 Acting School, his first play, Backyard, was workshopped at the Australian National Playwrights' Conference and produced by Nimrod Theatre in 1980. Other plays include Happily Never After, Beginning of the End, Summerland, Heart for the Future, and Double Take. Currency has published Wet and Dry, Perfect Skin (his adaptation of Nick Earl's novel), and The Ghosts Trilogy, which comprises Too Young for Ghosts, No Going Back and My Father's Father and draws on his Latvian heritage. Balodis has also written for television and radio. He was an Associate Director of Melbourne Theatre Company (1988–93), and Dramaturg-in-Residence and Artistic Associate at Queensland Theatre Company (1995–6).