Mike Ladd

Mike Ladd was born in 1959 in Berkeley California to Australian parents. He grew up at Blackwood in the Adelaide hills, did a degree in English and Philosophy at Adelaide University, then in 1980 joined the new wave band The Lounge. Mike has often collaborated with musicians and artists, writing poetry for the screen and live performance with groups such as The Drum Poets, newaural net, and Max Mo. In 1983 he began working at the ABC as a trainee sound engineer, joining Radio National as producer in 1993. He was the editor of the station’s highly respected program Poetica, which ran for eighteen years. Mike currently works for Radio National’s features and documentary unit. Mike has published nine collections of poetry and prose; the most recent Invisible Mending from Wakefield Press. Recently he and his partner Cathy Brooks have been running projects that put poems on street signs as public art.