Walter Mason is a well-known writer of travel memoir who has published books on both Vietnam and Cambodia. He has a BA in English, Text and Writing from the University of Western Sydney, where he wrote his Honours thesis on Sumner Locke Elliott. He is currently researching his doctoral thesis on the history of self-help writing in Australia.

He has taught creative writing at the NSW Writers' Centre, the SA Writers' Centre and Hunter Writers' Centre. Walter is a popular speaker at libraries and community organisations across NSW and appears regularly in the media, including ABC 702 and ABC Classic FM. He has a particular interest in Cambodia, Vietnam and Buddhism, and has spent long periods studying Buddhism and the Vietnamese language in Ho Chi Minh City.