Michael Hyde – September 4 2016

World Suicide Prevention Day – September 10 2016

Michael is an established author of some 30 works of non-fiction and fiction, the latter mainly for adolescents and young adults including Tyger Tyger, Surfing Goliath and his sports series, Change the Game. A teacher in working class secondary schools in Melbourne for 25 years, he went on to lecture in Professional Writing and Children’s Literature at Victoria University, Melbourne. Michael holds an Associate of Arts (California, USA), BA (Monash), DipEd (UniMelb), MA (VicMelb), PhD (VicMelb) and Honorary Fellow, College of Arts. His PhD examined the lived experience of the sixties in Australia, his memoir, All Along the Watchtower, being the major work towards his PhD. Michael has also begun another YA novel, Morrison and Mr Moore, about an unlikely friendship between a soon-to-retire school Principal and a rebellious 17 year old student. Michael currently lives in Melbourne and conducts writing workshops for students and teachers across Australia.

Hey Joe
The Vulgar Press, 2003; ISBN 9780958079440
Young adult

Jimi doesn’t know his father, Joe; the least he can do is go to Vietnam and try to find him. With the aid of Joe’s half-finished novel Jimi sets off in search of his father – and himself. A novel about the Vietnam war and its effect on all Australians: soldiers, civilians, protesters and their mystified children.

MAX
The Vulgar Press, 2001; ISBN 9780957735217
Young adult
After his friend Lou commits suicide Max wants to finish the graffiti piece they started together, leading to trouble with the police. Max feels like drowning his troubles forever, but the support of his family and his new girlfriend, Mai, helps him to come to terms with Lou’s death.