Marty Sharples (42) is a teacher of International Relations and English in Castlemaine, Australia. He worked previously for the United Nations and Australian Aid Program, living for nearly 15 years in South-East Asia and the Pacific.
Marty holds both undergraduate and Master’s degrees in International Development from RMIT as well as a Graduate Diploma of Education. He attended Melbourne High School, batting number four for the First XI.
Marty has performed and written sketch comedy and holds the world record for distance travelled by cyclo (Vietnamese Rickshaw). This is outlined in the award-winning film ‘The Cyclo Diaries’(https://vimeo.com/3778822). He is the founding president and official historian of the Laotian Elephants Football Club.
Each of these pursuits was guided by an untamed curiosity and love for the irreverent and strange undertows of life.
In 2010, Marty was struck down by chronic illness. The ensuing years were spent in a state of great sadness and existential dread as he began a manic exploration for an elusive cure. With his wanderlust dampened, Marty began writing extensively about the psychological and physical consequences of long-term illness.
As Marty emerged slowly from the fog of illness, a fateful encounter with a cricketing evangelist in the streets of Phnom Penh gave him a glimpse of a long-forgotten childhood and set him on a path to an unlikely recovery. Marty had played cricket obsessively as a child, often without enjoyment, but always underpinned by a deep sense of love. His identity was inextricably linked with the sport.
This book is a coming-of-middle-age tale of a man yearning for a childhood that no longer exists, who finds something else entirely.
An unrepentant neurotic, Marty has a unique perspective bedded in humour, hope, and catharsis, forged by an untamed, curious and wandering mind.
This is Marty’s first full-length book.
