Giles Hugo

Hugo was born in 1949 in South Africa where he worked as a journalist and sub-editor on many newspapers. For four years he worked in advertising as a copywriter before returning to journalism in 1986 to work on a new Johannesburg-based newspaper, New Nation, that was editorially aligned with the African National Congress. Hugo is married to Australian poet Anne Kellas. Hugo decided to take his wife and young family to Australia in mid-1986 and worked for two decades as a sub-editor on the Hobart-based newspaper, The Mercury. Between 1990 and 1994 Hugo wrote a regular book review column for The Mercury called The Write Stuff, as a side-line to his day job. He reviewed an average of 200 books a year in that period, including books by major Australian and overseas writers. He also conducted interviews with writers such as Vikram Seth, Gwen Harwood, Sarah Day, Peter Goldsworthy, Les Murray, Richard Flanagan, Elizabeth Jolly, Geoffrey Dean and Amy Witting, which were published in The Mercury. When Hugo stopped reviewing books for The Mercury in 1994, his wife established the online website, The Write Stuff, where Hugo continued reviewing books until the site's focus changed to poetry.