At the age of seventeen, Mike Ladd began reading his poetry at Adelaide's renowned Friendly Street and his poems started appearing in local and national publications. His first book The Crack in the Crib was published in 1984 followed by eight collections of poetry and prose. Mike was the editor of ABC Radio National's highly respected Poetica, which ran for eighteen years. He currently works for Radio National's features and documentary unit, and he and his partner Cathy Brooks have been running projects that put poems on street signs as public art. Mike is a poetry mentor, judge, and also a reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald. Over the past two decades he has given poetry workshops and masterclasses in every state and territory of Australia. Mike Ladd lives in Adelaide.
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'His regard for the dignity of human beings, animals and the planet we share seems to me to be a salve for a very broken world, and his words are indeed a kind of invisible mending.' - Tegan Gigante, Program Manager for the Castlemaine Poetry Festival
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'Stark and confronting images.' - Nathanael Pree, Australian Book Review
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'[Mike's] stories about his time living in Malaysia and Borneo convey the atmosphere of the tropics and an exceptional understanding of local life and aspirations. It is a very readable and appealing collection.' - Elaine Fry, The West Australian
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'An outstanding book, rich in every way, from its sometimes poignant subject matter, in particular Mike's pieces on his father, to the mediums they're expressed in … Every page holds treasure.' - J.V. Birch
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'All the work in Invisible Mending is unified both by Ladd's aesthetic curiosity and his political temperament. The poems are quick to pick up anomalies or hypocrisies … These are full-blooded but subtle protests in the tradition of Brecht and Neruda.' - Geoff Page, Cordite Poetry Review
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'I was left feeling that this author has a great affection for the world, despite being disappointed and sometimes distraught by the behaviour of people … Most readers will find something they enjoy in this eclectic book.' - Rob Welsh, ReadPlus
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'If there's a better poet in Adelaide, I don't know them.' - Peter Goers, ABC 891 Evenings
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'Invisible Mending is brilliant.' - Jane Lomax-Smith