American artist and author Michael Walsh was born Michael Joseph "Mike" Walsh on January 13, 1960 in Buffalo, New York of Irish, German, and Italian ancestry. Walsh was a rebellious and adventurous youth, leaving Minneapolis for Florida at nineteen. He hitchhiked frequently, and journeyed to San Diego, California soon after he turned twenty. He resided in California for eighteen years; also living in Sacramento, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1995, Walsh graduated from California College of the Arts in Oakland. The following year, in 1996, Walsh created the book titled GRAFFITO, a photo essay of the graffiti phenomenon in the San Francisco Bay Area. The book was well received in the United States and Europe. Walsh ventured to Prague, Czech Republic in 1997 and began work on Frontier Town, an experimental photo essay set in Prague. In 1998 Walsh was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in Photography to Taiwan. For the next two years, Walsh made frequent excursions with his camera to many regions of Taiwan traveling by bus, motorbike, and train. Later he began recording some of his Taiwan experiences in writing. CADILLAC FIN SUITCASE, a collection of eighteen short works concerning Taiwan, was published in 2011. Walsh's latest work, WESTERN ROADS, was released in May 2013. It's a semiautobiographical tale of wanderlust, friendship, and murder. Walsh's next book, FRONTIER TOWN, will be available in 2014. The work utilizes photographs, graphics, and a fictional narrative set in Prague. To view a sample of Walsh's Taiwan photography and artwork: http://michaelwalsh7.wordpress.com/