The son of a lawyer of Scottish descent and a Russian mother, Louis Simpson was born in Jamaica and migrated to the USA at the age of seventeen. He studied at Columbia University, then served in World War II. After the war he continued his studies at Columbia and at the University of Paris. Simpson had a distinguished career as a poet, academic and editor.
A booklet of poems titled
Armidale grew out of Simpson's time as Writer-in-residence in the Department of English at the University of New England during 1979.
