Tim Thorne is well-known for taking social and political issues or historical events and turning them into poetry full of mordant wit, black humour and verbal ingenuity. Over the decades he has written in this way about such subjects as the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, homeless youth, race relations, the cult of celebrity, the environment and refugees, to name just a few topics. In A Letter to Egon Kisch, he brings his considerable skills in the use of traditional rhymed, metrical verse to bear on a survey of contemporary Australia.

The late Egon Kisch wrote perceptively about Australia in the 1930s, and Thorne brings him up to date from across the divides of the grave and the millennia on such matters as politics, cricket, reality TV, Anzac Day, Bali, the flag and mobile phones.

This is Tim Thorne's 11th book of poetry. He lives in Launceston, Tasmania, where he was born in 1944, where he has worked in a variety of occupations, including writing a witty and iconoclastic newspaper column for 17 years, where he has campaigned for a number of worthy causes and where he has offended all the right people.

What the critics have said:

"Thorne is adept at giving a new spin to the images, absurdities and atrocities numbed into our senses by the media." - Mark O'Flynn, Famous Reporter

"A wry and perceptive observer of human folly, greed and self-deception, Thorne assumes the role of smiling surgeon." - Heather Cam, Sydney Morning Herald

"Tim Thorne's historical portraits… have more edges than a Swiss army knife. They're also fun…" - Kerry Leves, Overland