Alan Attwood has had a long and varied career in which he has tended to specialise in not specialising.

For 30 years as a journalist he covered such diverse events as the first free elections in South Africa, soccer in Northern Greece, political intrigue in Morocco, four Olympic Games and all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.

Between 1995 and 1998 he was the New York-based correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers. He won a Walkley Award for sports coverage in 1998.

He is the author of two novels, one of which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. He is currently the editor of The Big Issue.