Michael Walsh

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 "with distinction" from California College of Arts and Crafts 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.

Western Roads was published in 2013; a semiautobiographical tale that follows Walsh and his friend Othello Bolen, who flee Minneapolis to California after a violent incident in St. Paul.

Walsh's latest work, the novel Boy Hero, was published in February 2016. It's a tale regarding Mr. Hai Lee, a Taiwan mango grower who's troubled by his past. His grandson Curtis, an orphan and a delinquent, arrives with troubles of his own.

What ensues is the timeless story of the struggle to come to terms with one's identity, the bondage of guilt, and the elusiveness and power of redemption.

To view a sample of Walsh's Taiwan photography and artwork: http://michaelwalsh7.wordpress.com/