Born in Tasmania, James McQueen studied at the National Art School in Sydney and completed a four-year course in accountancy. He worked at a number of jobs: factory hand, window dresser, ship's cook, weather observer, fruit-picker, truck-driver, accountant. He was a full-time writer from 1977. The two novels White Light and The Heavy Knife are the first two parts of a projected trilogy dealing with guilt and retribution, which remained incomplete upon the author's death. His non-fiction works include Miniature Orchids (1992) and Orchids of Brazil (1993), both with his wife Barbara McQueen, and The Franklin : Not Just a River (1983).
