Richard Rathwell was born in Ottawa, ON, in 1944. A student of Robin Blaser and Jerry Zazlov at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, Rathwell was arrested for his active life leading political organizations which ran afoul with authorities. Denounced in Parliament as a revolutionary for his involvement in the Gastown Riots, Rathwell has since taught English in Canada, Ireland, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho, and has worked in development aid in conflict areas, serving as international operations director of large NGO's based in Vienna and London. Rathwell has channelled his experiences into poetry, children's drama, short stories and novels, which have been published in Canada, the US, UK, Ireland, and Albania, and have won various national awards in Ireland, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. He is currently a Doctoral candidate at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, and divides his time between London and Southern France.