Portraits by the very excellent Saskia Wilson. Click image for more.
Current Projects
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. We will soon announce 2026 trips.
My PhD is about Australia’s new ‘public interest’ defence for defamation law and I’ll be completing it in late 2025.
Together with the Women’s Justice Network I founded the ‘Freadom Inside’ project that gets books to women incarcerated in NSW. We recently raised $55,000 to run book club programs for those still inside.
SEED
30 September 2025
Tour dates and pre-orders available here
An astonishing new novel from the acclaimed and bestselling author of Eggshell Skull and The Work.
Mitchell is a brilliant biologist, committed to the environment and the growing global antinatalist movement. For one month each year he lives with his colleague Frances in a utopia of radical equality and scientific dedication in Antarctica. They are concluding the Anarctos Project: a seed vault in an isolated, secret location. It is a biodiversity insurance policy against humanity’s devastating effects on the rapidly warming planet.
But when their helicopter doesn’t pick them up, and strange things begin to happen, their faith in science is suddenly not enough. Mitchell has been keeping big secrets – from Frances and from himself. The ice haunts him with memories of a devastating betrayal and questions of legacy and fairness crowd his mind.
If they don’t get back to McMurdo Station before the last flight home they face a long dark polar winter together. Alone. As the days get shorter, these two people of firm logic and reason begin finding fault lines in their perfect social experiment. Thrilling, original and almost unbearably suspenseful, Seed offers an uneasy glimpse into isolation, love and our worst fears.
PRAISE FOR SEED
— Chris Hammer, author of The Valley
‘Bri Lee’s expertly crafted novel is an urgent philosophical questioning of humanity and responsibility. It’s also an equally persuasive thriller. Dynamic and moving.’
— Christos Tsiolkas, author of The In-Between
‘Seed is a sublime work of literature that grapples with some of the most pressing moral questions of our time. My attention was taken hostage by this apocalyptic love story – as thrilling as it is philosophically profound. Bri Lee is a writer of rare technical skill and emotional range.’
— Lech Blaine, author of Australian Gospel
‘Seed is an absolute ripper of a novel. A propulsive, nail-bitingly tense thriller that asks urgent, uncompromising questions about love, hubris and how we decide what – and who – is worth saving.’
— Emily Maguire, author of Rapture
‘I raced through Seed with a pounding heart. It took me to an unfamiliar place and dropped me there, poking at my preconceptions while I tried to find a way home. It’s deeply original, intense and thrilling.’
— Holly Wainwright, author of He Would Never
‘Seed tackles deep philosophical questions and leads us down a treacherous path.’
— Madeleine Gray, author of Green Dot
— Sophie Cunningham, author of This Devastating Fever
‘Seed is a compulsively readable novel that is teeming with ideas. The stakes are painfully high in both its human relationships – people collaborating in the most extreme of environments – and in the scientific endeavour depicted. It explores the morally thorny nature of contingency plans, and brilliantly tackles the question of how to invest in a future that we hope for as much as we fear. A layered and riveting novel.’
— Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Alternatives
‘Seed is such an eerie read, full of dread as well as moments that feel like they transcend human experience. I was completely gripped. Tough, uncomfortable, invigorating, this is a writer at the peak of her powers.’
– Bridie Jabour, author of Trivial Grievances
‘Seed is a propulsive, hilarious novel about new beginnings at the end of the world. The climate might be cold but the heart of Lee’s novel is anything but. It’s both a plot-driven romp and a deeply felt meditation on the nature of love and life on earth, and the loves and lives to come. Her best work yet!’
— Dominic Amerena, author of I Want Everything
“Like having a wine with mates after a long week and chatting about all the things that make you think—with cute, fun bits as well.”
Smart takes on books, news, and culture. Straight from Bri's desk in Sydney to your inbox each Wednesday at 5pm, plus a monthly magazine special edition full of her sexy friends.
I’ve been leading interstate workshops and international travelling book clubs for five years. In 2024 I co-founded Bibliocarta. We offer travel for readers and a library for travellers. Head over to our website to see what trips we have coming up. I will not be teaching writing again until 2026.
CONTACT
please email my literary agent:
Grace Heifetz at a4 Literary
For enquiries about events and speaking opportunities, please email either of my speaking agents:
Farah Parkinson at Saxton
Lucy Broome at Speaking Out
© BRI LEE 2025