John Birmingham is perhaps best known for his documentation of the "horror and madness" of Australian share-house living in his 1994 book He Died With A Felafel In His Hand.

His book Leviathan: An Unauthorised Biography of Sydney won the Australian National Prize for Non Fiction Award in 2002, and his (self-called) “airport novels” including The Axis of Time series are loved across the world.

1989 was an eventful year for John, which set him up for the Felafel book and the successful writing career he has today. He reflects on life in Bjelke-Petersen Queensland, the amount of couches he's slept on, his gonzo stints on the streets of Kings Cross and a Brisbane jail cell, and meeting his wife in the midst of a violent student protest.