Trent Dalton writes for the award-winning The Weekend Australian Magazine on The Australian newspaper. A former assistant editor of The Courier-Mail, he has won a Walkley Award for excellence in journalism, been a three-time winner of the national News Awards Feature Journalist of the Year Award, and was named Queensland Journalist of the Year at the 2011 Clarion Awards for excellence in Queensland media. His journalism has twice been nominated for a United Nations of Australia Media Peace Award.

His writing includes several short film screenplays. He was nominated for a 2010 AFI Best Short Fiction screenplay award for his latest film, Glenn Owen Dodds, starring David Wenham. The film won the prestigious International Prix Canal award at the world's largest short film festival, The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. Dalton's debut feature film screenplay, In the Silence, is currently in production.

Dalton is also the author of a book, Detours, released in 2011, the culmination of three months immersed in Brisbane's homeless community, the proceeds of which went back to the 20 people featured within its pages.