Bri Lee is a Sydney-based author, academic, and activist.
As an author, Bri published a multi-award-winning memoir, Eggshell Skull, and two other acclaimed works of non-fiction, Beauty and Who Gets to Be Smart. Bri’s debut novel, The Work was published in 2024 and shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards, and her latest novel, Seed will be out in September 2025. These books cover topics such as: sexism in the legal industry, inequality in Australia’s education system, patriarchy and ambition in the art world, and the climate emergency.
As an academic, Bri has peer-reviewed research on consent law reform, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. Her thesis is an analysis of Australia’s new public interest defence to defamation and is due for completion in late 2025.
As an activist, Bri was named a Fin Review ‘Woman of Influence’ for her role in achieving consent law reform in Australia. She has now co-founded the FREADom Inside initiative with the Women’s Justice Network. This program gets more and better books to women in prison, and she helped fundraise $55,000 for a year of bookclubs for women incarcerated in New South Wales.
Bri is also a freelance writer, and was shortlisted for a Walkley Award for her investigative journalism. She is the founder and editor of News & Reviews, and the Literary and Creative Director of boutique travel company for readers: Bibliocarta.
Testimonials
“Thank you for sharing your wonderful speaker Bri Lee with us today. She spoke with such a resolute commitment and determination for a call to arms from us all – it really was a very phenomenal talk. When I met her afterwards, I almost felt a bit emotional. She was just fantastic.”
“Bri was absolutely fantastic… she captivated everyone that was in attendance (both in person and at the 6 satellite sites). Bri was forth-right in her presentation and covered everything that we all wanted to hear. Bri was extremely friendly, personable, and a pleasure to deal with.”
“Bri was fantastic on Friday, she was such a pleasure to work with and her speech was so powerful; she reflected so many things that are important to us at WLA. Bri was so generous with her time by signing copies of her books and taking photos with participants! There was a huge line at one stage. It was such a joy to work with her.”
“Bri was amazing, the audience were definitely there to see her. The panel conversation was a real highlight and Bri’s contribution to that panel was so on point. Lots of questions were directed to her and she was very eloquent and genuine. The conversation with Linda Black was really well attended and we reached full capacity. The book signing had a big line! Lots of Bri fans wanting to chat, and I really enjoyed meeting her – she was a festival highlight for sure!”
“The event was an absolute success. Bri’s speech was very powerful. We received some fantastic feedback from guests on Bri and the event generally. We hope that Bri enjoyed the breakfast and her stay in Melbourne.
Q & A also went very well – Bri was so articulate in giving her responses which were well-considered.”
“We had incredible feedback from all of our attendees at the event and lots and LOTS of “how did you manage to get Bri Lee to speak! She was so amazing!” It was a powerful and inspiring evening and we were delighted for her to be able to attend – it really was an excellent way to kick off our first major return to in person events. We would be grateful if you could please relay this to Bri and thank her again for taking the time to come down.”