Libby Robin is an environmental historian who has had a long interest in conservation initiatives in deserts. Her books include "How a Continent Created a Nation", which won the NSW Premier s Prize for Australian History (2007) and "The Flight of the Emu", which won the Victorian Premier s Literary Award for Science Writing (2003). Her most recent co-edited book is "Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country" (CSIRO Publishing 2009), which won the Whitley Medal in 2009.