AustLit

Born and raised in Melbourne, Booth was educated at Balwyn State School, and played Australian Rules football for Melbourne Football Club. He worked for some time at the Herald Sun newspaper before enlisting in the Australian Army. Booth fought in the Middle East before returning to Australia after acute renal failure. When he had recuperated he continued duty in the Northern Territory taking supplies 'Up the Track' from Alice Springs to Larrimah.This experience became the foundation for his novel Up the Dusty Track which he wrote in Melbourne in the years immediately following the war.

Booth shifted to Sydney where he worked as a copy-editor and, following his retirement in 1982, he moved to the Blue Mountains. The manuscript for Up the Dusty Track was discovered amongst Booth's papers, and his daughters had it retyped and submitted it to the Northern Territory University (NTU) Press in early 2001. Booth heard that it was to be published shortly before he died.

Norman Booth is the father of Professor Alison Booth.