Paul Byrnes

Paul Byrnes joined The Sydney Morning Herald in 1976, reporting from various corners of the world for a decade, before specialising as a feature writer and film critic. He was director of the Sydney Film Festival for ten years until 1998. In 2007, he won The Pascall Prize, Australia's highest award for critical writing in the arts. His bestseller, The Lost Boys (Affirm Press) about underage Anzacs in the First World War, won the Indie Award for Best Illustrated Book and was shortlisted for the overall industry award for Best Illustrated Book. Sons of War, his second book, was also a bestseller. 

Paul is currently writing a new book about riding a motorcycle along the wild Atlantic coast of Ireland - a travel book with social history, exploring 3000 years of history, the tracks of his Irish ancestors and the dreams of the newly prosperous, post-Catholic Irish.