Geoffrey Lehmann was born in Sydney in 1940. Aged sixteen, he began an Arts/Law course at the University of Sydney, where he performed indifferently, but co-edited literary magazines with poet Les Murray, with whom he co-published his first book of poetry, The Ilex Tree. He was the first Australian poet to be published by the leading English poetry publisher Faber & Faber, and his Spring Forest was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. His Poems 1957–2013 (UWAP 2014) won the Prime Minister’s prize for poetry. He has edited five poetry anthologies, including Australian Poetry Since 1788, co-edited with Robert Gray (UNSW Press 2011). He is co-author of a leading taxation textbook, was a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, has been involved in the design of Australian tax legislation, and was Chairman of the Australian Tax Research Foundation.