'Once at a poetry reading at Manning Clark House I was asked who my favourite Australian poet was. Without much hesitation I answered ‘David Campbell’, and was promptly shown a repaired floorboard that David Campbell had once danced through, drunk on whisky. On any other day perhaps I might have answered with a different poet, but it is indicative of David Campbell’s current standing that many poets I know nominate him as their favourite, or near-to-favourite Australian poet. This alone makes the publication of this biography of him especially welcome.'
(Introduction)