Michael McGirr was a Jesuit for 20 years and a Catholic priest for seven. After leaving the church, he went on to become a founding staff member of Eureka Street and has been a regular newspaper columnist and reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age. He was fiction editor of Meanjin from 2001-2005, and in 2005 was the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University. In 2007 Michael moved to Melbourne to take up a position as head of faith and mission at St Kevin's College. He currently lives in Yarraville with his wife and three children.