Robert Rushforth Morley was born in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, in 1958. He was educated at Blundell’s School and at the University of Kent. He has been teaching EFL for thirty-five years, mostly in Italy, but also in the Crimea, Moscow, Hong Kong and Cairo. Since the turn of the millennium he has been teaching at the University of Pavia. He currently lives in a well-appointed garret somewhere in the Po Valley with a very small dog.
 
Since studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University in 1996/7, he has published poetry in a variety of magazines, and helps run the Poetry on the Lake festival on Lake Orta. His novel, The Gift of Honey, was published by Indigo Dreams in 2012. He believes that the only true holidays are to lose oneself in a good novel or on a long walk.