Bill Egan

Bill Egan was born in 1937 and spent his early years in Ireland, before settling in Australia as an information technology professional. After retirement from a senior executive position with the Australian government, he completed a university course in professional writing.

Since then he has devoted his time to enjoying his twin passions, jazz and chess. Having no special talents for either, he gains great pleasure from researching and writing about their history.

Many years of experience as an organizer of Australia’s major chess tournament helped in the production of “The Doeberl Cup: Fifty Years of Australian Chess History”.

The music of Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington (specifically “Black Beauty”, also known as “Portrait of Florence Mills”) inspired the writing of “Florence Mills: Harlem Jazz Queen”, which was singled out for Honorable Mention, Kurt Weill Prize, 2005.

Each book took ten years of research but hopefully the next planned ones will take less.

A current major project is the history of African American entertainers in Australasia from the beginning of European settlement (1788) till the entry of USA into World War II (Pearl Harbor, 1941). Other projects are planned as time permits.

For more about Florence Mills see http://www.florencemills.com