'In early February 2011, I read that North Queensland was being hit by Cyclone Yasi, a Category 5 storm. When I got online, the first story I encountered was a report of the devastation suffered by Mission Beach, a town I had visited several times when researching E. J. Banfield's Dunk Island books. I was reminded of those visits and that storm in Chrystopher Spicer's book. Although the subtitle speaks of Australian literature generally, it is mostly a book about North Queensland writing.' (Introduction)