Ruth Balint was born and grew up in Sydney and holds a doctorate in History from the University of Sydney. Her family moved to Broome many years ago, and she now counts Broome as her second home. It was there that she first encountered the Indonesian fishermen, and listened to their stories in Broome Prison. This led to her writing and directing the film Troubled Waters which went on to win the Dendy Best Documentary Award in 2002, a human rights award and a nomination for an If award. Research for the film became the springboard for this book. Ruth has since made another shorter current affairs story for SBS, produced radio documentaries for ABC Radio National and worked as an oral historian. She is currently working on two new projects, a documentary film about the Sydney and Budapest connection in the post-war era, and a new history about the place of Australia's diverse and far-flung islands in the geographical imagination.
