Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of the short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the memoir The Hate Race, and several books for children and young folks. Her poetry collections include Beautiful Changelings, How Decent Folk Behave, It’sThe Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for young people and Stuff I’m (Not) Sorry For: 99 more poems for young people. She was the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at The University of Melbourne (2003-2025).