Alan D. Mickle was educated at the Melbourne Grammar School. He wrote many books of philosophical essays and reminiscences apart from fiction and poetry and some of these, including Suzanne and I (1947), describe much of his life's experiences, including living in Melbourne during the Second World War. Michael Dugan (q.v.), in his obituary for Mickle (Southerly 30.1, 1970, p. 69) wrote that Mickle had 'one of the longest literary careers of any Australian author ... he was a curious figure in the history of Australian letters, an iconoclast who could never be identified with any particular movement.' He also wrote Six Plays of Eugene O'Neill (1929) and Descent to Avernus: A Philosophical and Non-Party Approach to Communist Infiltration and its Menace to Australia (1948).