As a child, David Metzenthen was a nature boy; he loved fishing and farm work, exploring the bush, and being outdoors under the stars. He also lived very much inside his own head; feeling that the world was a place of unlimited adventure. He harboured dreams of becoming a cowboy, a fisherman, a farmer, a sailor, or a writer. Instead he left home at eighteen, with a copy of Jack Kerouac's On the Road for company, and hitch-hiked his way around New Zealand. Returning to Australia, David worked as a builder's labourer and advertising copy writer before finding success as a writer of books for children and young adults.

David Metzenthen now lives with his wife and two children in Melbourne and is one of Australia's top writers for young people. He has received many awards for excellence, including the 2000 CBCA Book of the Year Award: Older Readers for Stony Heart Country, a 2003 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Wildlight, and a 2003 Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Boys of Blood and Bone. In 2004, Boys of Blood and Bone also won a NSW Premier's Literary Award and was an Honour Book in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers. His novel Black Water was an Honour Book in the 2008 CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers.

David's latest novel is Jarvis 24.