Australian playwright, poet, journalist and critic, Louis Esson (1878-1943) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He moved with his mother to Melbourne, Australia when he was 3.

For most of his childhood in Melbourne, Louis lived with his aunts and uncles, only visiting his mother during school holidays.

In the 1920s, Esson was a co-founder of the Pioneer Players, a theatre company dedicated to the performance of Australian plays. Although the Pioneer Players survived only 4 years, Louis Esson is widely regarded as the ‘father of Australian drama’.