BRI LEE





I’m a writer.

Here’s a flattering profile of me
in T Magazine Australia.

I live and work on Gadigal land 
in Sydney, Australia.

Find me on Instagram.

Current Projects




My new novel, Seed, will be published by Simon & Schuster Australia in October 2025.

My first novel, The Work, was published in April 2024. My other books are all non-fiction and include Who Gets to be Smart (2021), Eggshell Skull (2018), and Beauty (2019). 

I run a weekly newsletter. Subscribe to News & Reviews here.

In 2024 I co-founded Bibliocarta — a company offering travel for readers and a library for travellers.

Together with the Women’s Justice Network I founded the ‘Freadom Inside’ project that gets books to women incarcerated in NSW. We’re now crowdfunding to pay women with lived experience to run book club programs for those still inside. Support them here


SHORT FICTION
Short story, ‘No Cockatoos’ 
published in Meanjin
Winter 2021


Short story, ‘Winner, Winner’ 
published in The Saturday Paper
in three parts — Part 1; Part 2; and Part 3.
July 2020



SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS 
TO OTHER BOOKS
Contributor to
Choice Words: a collection of writing about abortion

edited by Louise Swinn
 
Allen & Unwin, 2019

Correspondence’ to Quarterly Essay 72 - Net Loss 
by Sebastian Smee 

Correspondence’ to Quarterly Essay 83 - Top Blokes
by Lech Blaine



WRITING IN THE MONTHLY
Debt-à-porter
an investigation into the people left behind and millions in debts when Ellery Land Pty Ltd closed 
April 2023

A review of Losing Face
by George Haddad
 
August 2022

‘Desire’s Conspiracies’
an essay reviewing The Right to Sex
by Amia Srinivasan 
September 2021

‘Ill-informed consent’
on teaching consent in Australian schools 
May 2021

‘Dangerous Precedents’:
on the legal avenues for dealing with Christian Porter
 
April 2021

Ben Quilty in Bleeding Colour’ 
February 2019



COLUMNS FOR
T MAGAZINE AUSTRALIA

On the impossibility of ‘greatness’ in an age of overexposure 
December 2022

Remembering The Importance of Fallow Seasons in a Productivity-Obsessed World
September 2022

The Fickleness of History 
August 2022

The Point of Art When The World Is At War 
May 2022

The Ways Travel Changes Us 
March 2022

Should You Include Your Children in Your Carbon Footprint Calculations? 
December 2021



JOURNALISM, ARTS CRITICISM 
AND COMMENT FOR
THE SATURDAY PAPER

Review of RGB: Of Many, One
by Sydney Theatre Company
 
12 November 2022

‘Queensland affirmative consent laws follow NSW example’ 
9 July 2022

‘Delays are allowing abusers to hide assets from their victims’ 
26 March 2022

‘The revolution will be organised’
18 December 2021


Review of Julius Caesar
by Sydney Theatre Company
 
27 November 2021

'The uneven justice of defamation law in Australia 
13 November 2021

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman on defamation reform, consent law reform, and RSE education 
29 May 2021

Review of Stop Girl by Belvoir St Theatre 
3 April 2021

‘Between Here and Justice’ extended essay on the ‘March4Justice’, Porter allegations, Higgins, etc. 
20 March 2021

Review of Playing Beatie Bow by Sydney Theatre Company 6 March 2021

Review of Milk Fed by Melissa Broder 
27 February 2021

Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray
by the Sydney Theatre Company
 
5 December 2020

Review of Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam 
28 November 2020

The old guard preventing consent law reform 
15 August 2020

Dyson Heydon and sexual harassment in the legal profession 
27 June 2020

Queensland’s domestic violence struggle 
29 February 2020

Proposed reforms to NSW consent laws 
16 November 2019

Portrait of Sydney Contemporary Art Fair Director, Barry Keldoulis 
7 September 2019

Profile of supergroup Seeker, Lover, Keeper 
17 August 2019

The High Court’s decision to rule a known sperm donor the child’s legal father 
29 June 2019

Art Gallery of South Australia’s new director: Rhana Devenport 
8 June 2019

The fight to reform Queensland’s consent laws 
25 May 2019

The flaws in Queensland’s Bill of Rights draft 
8 December 2018

Queensland debating abortion reform 
22 September 2018

My inbox after #MeToo 
8 September 2018

Exclusive:
Christian Lobby academic heads law school
 
21 July 2018



WRITING FOR THE GUARDIAN
The limits of storytelling to make change 
21 August 2022

The Craig McLachlan case shows how far we still have to go in the fight for consent law reform 
22 December 2020

Coverage of the #LetHerSpeak campaign after winning ABIA for Best Biography 
3 May 2019

Queensland is the worst state in Australia for survivors to try to access justice 
13 December 2018

Coverage of the #LetHerSpeak campaign to reform gag laws in Tasmania and the Northern Territory 
19 November 2018

Considerations for and against the jury system in Australian courts 
21 July 2018

What I learned from going to the police 
and writing Eggshell Skull 
21 May 2018

An interview with author Eileen Ormsby 
about her book The Darkest Web
22 March 2018


An interview with author Dr Nikki Stamp 
about her book Can You Die of a Broken Heart?
24 February 2018


An interview with author Caroline Baum 
about her memoir Only
7 March 2017


An interview with author Holly Throsby 
about her novel Goodwood 
10 October 2016

An interview with author Liam Pieper 
about his novel The Toymaker
21 July 2016




OTHER ARTS AND 
CULTURAL JOURNALISM
Jenny Offill's Weather creates a storm of feelings around the climate crisis’, Good Weekend
10 July 2020


All the Right Moves’, Good Weekend
14 December 2019


The 'devastatingly intense' lessons in Christos Tsiolkas' Damascus, Good Weekend 
14 December 2019

Ratatouille dishes up food for the soul’, Good Weekend
16 November 2019


‘The Perfect Lie: perfectionism and the evils of social media’, Harpers Bazaar Australia
1 March 2019


On Rape by Germaine Greer is not good enough to be truly controversial’, Crikey
6 September 2018


Why does season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale sound so good?’, Double J
20 June 2018


How sci-fi soundtracks shape our imagining of the future’, Double J
5 June 2018


Megan Washington on playing with stutters and symphony orchestras’, The Upsider
10 October 2017


Mother-daughter label OATS proves mums make the best business partners’, i-D
19 July 2016




OTHER LEGAL, POLITICAL, 
AND ISSUES-BASED JOURNALISM
Holding the Baby’ - Australia’s early childhood education and care divide, Griffith Review #75, 2022

How Australian courts are stacked against victims of sexual assault’, Crikey, 12 June 2018

Young lady, that’s inappropriate: statistics and prejudice for women in law’, Griffith Review #56, 2017 



WRITING FOR VAULT: AUSTRALASIAN ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE
Artist profile of Angela Tiatia ahead of her new show at Sullivan & Strumpf 
February 2019 issue #25

Nuance and negligence: #MeToo and the art world
August 2018 issue #23

An interview with long-time collaborators Lyn & Tony June 2018 issue #22

“Urban Art Projects” and an interview with Daniel Tobin 2017 Issue #20

When fashion and art meet: Ingrid Verner and her collaboration with Lisa Waup 
July 2017 Issue #19







© BRI LEE 2025
Portraits by the very excellent Saskia Wilson