Rusty Young (born 1975) is an Australian-born writer known for his book, Marching Powder published by Pan Macmillan Australia in 2003, and based on real life experiences in a Bolivian prison.
[3] While living and working in Colombia, Rusty interviewed special forces soldiers, snipers, undercover intelligence agents and members of two terrorist organisations: the FARC and Autodefensas.
[5] In January 2016, the rights to Colombiano, Rusty's second book, were sold by literary agent Simone Camilleri to Random House Australia after a competitive bidding war.
Commercial fiction publisher Beverley Cousins said: "From Rusty’s work with child soldiers in Colombia has grown a story that shocks, thrills and packs a strong emotional punch.
"[7] Rusty also fronts the documentary Wildlands (2017), produced by Ubisoft and Chief Productions, distributed by Journeyman Pictures,[8] in which he interviews notorious characters formerly involved in the cocaine trade including George Jung – famously played by Johnny Depp in the movie Blow – and, more terrifyingly, John Jairo Velasquez or “Popeye”, the right-hand man of Pablo Escobar and one of the deadliest hitmen in cartel history.