Craig Harrison is a fiction writer, playwright, and teacher. He has written several novels, short stories, plays, satirical works, and television comedies. His well known science fiction novel, The Quiet Earth, was published in 1981. Harrison has also written junior fiction, including The Dumpster Saga, published by Scholastic in 2007. His awards and prizes include the Elmwood Jubilee Prize, the J.C. Reid Award, and the NZ Theatre Federation prize. He came to New Zealand in 1966 to lecture in English at Massey University, where he remained until he retired.