Bernadette Brennan is a literary critic and researcher in contemporary Australian writing. She is the author of a number of publications, including a monograph on Brian Castro and two edited collections: Just Words?: Australian Authors Writing for Justice (UQP 2008), and Ethical Investigations: Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics (Vagabond 2008). In 2017 she published her award-winning literary biography A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work (Text). Her most recent book Leaping Into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears (A&U 2021) has been acclaimed by critics and readers alike and is currently shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.