Cirrus@Austlit

Walter Billeter was born in Muraz sur Sierre, Valais, Switzerland in 1943 and trained as a civil and structural draftsman in Basel, where he also co-founded the magazine Sphaira (1962-64) and had his first publications of prose and poetry. Apart from a period as an opal miner, he has worked as a draftsperson in Melbourne and Sydney. Since 1973 he has also worked as a writer, editor, translator and publisher. He was founder of 'The Paper Castle Press' and co-founder of the literary magazine Etymspheres. He has performed language-based phonic pieces at La Trobe University in 1981 and at the Melbourne Arts Festival in 1983. Billeter operates his own press, 'The Paper Castle Press'.