Donna Brien
BEd (Deakin), MA (in Writing) (Research), (UTS), PhD (QUT), Grad Cert Higher Ed (UTS)Emeritus Professor
School of Education and the Arts
A research-intensive academic in the discipline of writing and publishing, I have, since 2000, focused on non-fiction genres and pedagogy of writing. As a highly motivated, results-orientated researcher, my passion for sharing knowledge is evidenced in my outstanding record of esteemed scholarly publications and academic as well as public and community presentations. While I have published with the best scholarly publishers and journals, I have also written for such high profile popular publications as The Griffith Review, The Conversation, The Australian and the Courier Mail. Career highlights before, and during, my academic career include as: exhibition curator, Powerhouse Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art (both Sydney); contracted non-fiction author, Allen & Unwin; long-serving President, national peak body, Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP); and Australian Research Council (ARC) secondment as an ERA peer reviewer (FoR 19).
I have been a Chief Investigator on external ($564,765) and internal ($120,050) grants and have won a number of prestigious awards, and a national citation for the quality of my mentorship of research higher degree candidates. I have won a large number of esteemed research residencies and fellowships including Eminent Visiting Researcher at the University of Southern Queensland (2018). The esteem in which I am held by the academic community is also evidenced in being often sought as an examiner of RHD theses.
I have edited many themed special issues of journals, solely but more often with other academics, with 50 refereed journal issues edited overall. In 2010, I co-founded (and continue to co-convene) the Australasian Food Studies Network, a research-focused Facebook group with over 200 active members, and I am the co-editor of The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, and immediate past Commissioning Editor, Special Issues, for respected refereed journal, TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses. I am also on the Editorial Advisory Board of national and international journals including New Writing. Through these roles, I encourage and foster the research careers of many national and international researchers, including early career researchers.
I am regularly interviewed by the media, including for ABC National and regional programs, and my research is regularly cited in the print and online press.
I have been an invited judge of a number of major awards including the Queensland Premier’s Awards, the national Walkley Awards (non-fiction book category), the Josephine Ulrick Award ($10,000 prize for nonfiction), Australian Publishers’ Association annual awards for Australian textbooks, and the annual AAWP postgraduate prize. I have also been an invited judge of a number of research related competitions, including the 2015 5 Minute Research Pitch Competition (ACU).
Universities Studied At
Deakin University
University of Melbourne
University of Sydney
University of New England
Queensland University of Technology
Universities Worked At
Queensland University of Technology
University of New England
Central Queensland University
Awards
2016 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Good Practice in Learning and Teaching (nomination)
2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Good Practice in Learning and Teaching
2014 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision
2014 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Good Practice in Learning and Teaching
2006 Carrick Institute (now ALTC) Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning:
Citation: ‘For consistently providing outstanding student outcomes since 1998 by harnessing the input of research-teaching nexus and service activities in creative and professional writing: undergraduate and postgraduate’
2004-05 Vice-Chancellor’s Special Scholarship for further study, UNE
1998-99 Queensland University of Technology Postgraduate Research Award
1989 University of Sydney Postgraduate Travelling Scholarship
1988-89 Australian Postgraduate Research Award
1987 GS Caird Scholarship in Fine Arts, University of Sydney
Media Citations
extensive - available on request
Professional Experience
2016-current Invited international Advisory Board member, Journal of Creative Writing Studies, USA
2013-current Invited International Editorial Advisory Board member, Aeternum: The International Journal of Contemporary Gothic Studies, Gothic Association of Australia and New Zealand, New Zealand
2012-2016 Commissioning Editor, Special Issues TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses
2012-current Invited Editorial Advisory Board member, Australasian Journal of Popular Culture
Co-editor, The Strange Bedfellows or Perfect Partners Papers: the refereed proceedings of the 15th conference of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs, 2010, Guyra 2010 (with Marcelle Freiman and Catherine Cole)
Co-editor, ‘Rewriting the Menu: the cultural dynamics of contemporary food choices’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue no 9, October 2010 (with Adele Wessell)
Co-editor, ‘Creative and practice-led research: current status, future plans’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue no 8, October 2010 (A Journal) (with Sandra Burr and Jen Webb)
Invited Founding Editorial Board Member, LOCALE: The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies, 2010-current
Invited Editorial Board member, Coolibah, journal of the Australian Studies Centre of the University of Barcelona (ISSN 1988-5946), double blind peer-reviewed and listed on the MLA International Bibliography and Directory of Periodicals, 2010-current
Board of Readers, Writing Macao, Macao, 2006-2008
Associate Editor, New Writing: the International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing (UK), 2005-2009
Founding Editor and Publisher, dotlit: The Online Journal of Creative Writing, from 1.1 July 2000-July 2004 (journal closed)
Commissions, Prose, Creative Nonfiction, Hypermedia & Reviews Editor, dotlit: The Online Journal of Creative Writing, from 1.1, July 2000-July 2004 (journal closed)
Reviews Editor, TEXT: The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs, 2002
2001-2007 Professional non-fiction author, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 2 books in Girl’s Guide series published to date, 3rd under consideration
Assistant Editor, Imago: New Writing Online, from launch, Nov 2000-Dec 2002
Assistant Editor, Imago: New Writing, March 2000-Dec 2002 (journal closed) 1997 Co-founder, Chief Curator, Catalogue Developer, inaugural Sculpture by the Sea, public sculpture exhibition, Bondi Beach, Sydney 1994 Seconded to Powerhouse Museum, Special Exhibition Curator 1991-1996 Special Projects Manager, Chief Curator, Biographer and Professional Writer, Ken Done (artist and entrepreneur) and Ken Done and Associates Sydney 1990-1991 Founding Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 1988-1996 Founding Co-Director, The Small Gallery, The Rocks, Sydney
Professional Memberships
Steering Committee, International Association of Auto/Biography, Asia-Pacific (IABA-AP)
Senior Advisory Board (Past President), Executive Committee of Management, Australian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP)
Foundation Member, Council for Professors of Writing [Australasia] (CoPoW)
Founder, Australasian Death Studies Network (ADSN)
Co-Founder, Australasian Food Studies Network (AFSN)
Co-Founder, Creative Australian-Ireland Research Network (CAIRN)
Co-Founder, Australasian Collaborative Research Network (ACRN)
(Full) Member, Australian Society of Authors (ASA)
Member, Australian Historical Association (AHA)
Member, Australian Women’s History Network (AWHN)
Member, Association for the Study of Food and Society (USA) (ASFS)
Member, Gothic Association of Australia and New Zealand (GANZA)
Member, International Publishing Studies Research Network (IPSRN)
Member, Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (PopCAANZ)
Responsibilities
Discipline Research leader, Creative and Performing Arts Research
Professional Interests
Writing, Editing and Publishing
Food Media
Auto/Biography
Death Studies
Editor
Books – As editor
Donna Lee Brien, Alison Owens and Janene Carey (Contributing eds) In Their Own Words: Stories of Australia’s International Students, Tablelands Press: Armidale, 2015
Lorna Piatti-Farnell & Donna Lee Brien (Contributing eds), New Directions in 21st Century Gothic: The Gothic Compass, Routledge, New York and London, 2015
Brien, Donna Lee, Marcelle Freiman and Catherine Cole, Co-editors, AAWP Refereed 2010 Conference Proceedings, 2010
Brien, Donna Lee and Marcelle Freiman (eds), AAWP Refereed 2009 Conference Proceedings, 2009
Brien, Donna Lee and Lucy Neave (eds), AAWP Refereed 2008 Conference Proceedings, 2008
Brien, Donna Lee (proof and production ed), Early Modern Lives by Ron Bedford, Philippa Kelly and Lloyd Davis, Ashgate Publishers, London, 2007
Brien, Donna Lee (ed) The Tincture of Salt by Alicia Bennett, Spotted Ghecko Press, Brisbane, 2004
Brien, Donna Lee (ed) Kangaroo Island Grandpa by Trudi Plaschke, Plaschke Publishing, Brisbane, 2003
Refereed Journal Issues – As editor
Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Donna Lee Brien and Corey Ryan Walden, ‘Food Love God’, Special Issue of Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, forthcoming June 2017
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning/contributing editor, Crime Fiction: The Creative/Critical Nexus, eds Rachel Franks, Jesper Gulddal and Alistair Rolls, Special issue 37, TEXT: The Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, October 2016
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning/contributing editor, Shakespeare 400, ed Dallas John Baker and Laurie Johnson, Special issues 36, TEXT: The Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, October 2016
Brien, Donna Lee, Contributing editor, ‘Writing Death and the Gothic, TEXT: The Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, eds Donna Lee Brien and Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Special issue 35, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, October 2016
Brien, Donna Lee and Margaret McAllister eds., Death-themed special issue, Aerternum: Journal of Contemporary Gothic Studies, 3.1, June 2016
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning editor, ‘Writing and Illustrating Interdisciplinary Research’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 34, eds Rachel Frank, Simon Dywer et al., April 2016
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning editor, ‘Art as Parodic Practice’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 33, eds Marion Campbell et al., October 2015
Brien, Donna Lee, Contributing Commissioning editor, ‘Why YA?: Researching, Writing and publishing Young Adult fiction in Australasia’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 32, eds Jessica Seymour and Denise Beckton, October 2015
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning editor, ‘Beyond Australian Queer’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 31, eds Dallas Baker et al., October 2015
Brien, Donna Lee, Contributing co-editor, ‘Creative Writing as Research IV’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 30, co-eds Nigel Krauth, Ross Watkins, Moya Costello, October 2015
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning editor, ‘Scriptwriting as Research II’, Special Issue 29, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, eds Dallas Baker, April 2015
Brien, Donna Lee, Contributing Commissioning editor, ‘Fictional Histories and Historical Fictions: Writing History in the 21st Century’, Special Issue 28, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, eds Dr Camilla Nelson & Dr Christine de Matos, April 2015
Brien, Donna Lee, co-editor, ‘Creative Writing as Research 3’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue, co-eds Nigel Krauth, Ross Watkins, October 2014
Brien, Donna Lee & Adele Wessell (eds) ‘Taste and, and in, writing and publishing’, Special issue 26, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Course, April 2014
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning/contributing editor, ‘Australasian magazines: perspectives on writing’, Introducing Australasian magazines: new perspectives on writing and publishing, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 25, eds Rosemary Williamson & Rebecca Johinke, April 2014
Wessell, Adele & Brien, Donna Lee ‘Taste’ MC Journal, 17.1, March 2014
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning/contributing editor, ‘Cookbooks: writing, reading and publishing culinary literature in Australasia’, eds Donna Lee Brien and Adele Wessell, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, 17.2, Special Issue no 24, October 2013
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning/contributing editor, ‘Textbooks and educational texts in the 21st century: writing, publishing and reading’, eds Mike Horsley and Donna Lee Brien, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, 17.2, Special Issue no 23, October 2013
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning/contributing editor, ‘Examination of doctoral degrees in creative arts: process, practice and standards’, eds Jen Webb, Donna Lee Brien and Sandra Burr, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, 17.2, Special Issue no 22, October 2013
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning editor, ‘Scores from another ground: writing in New Zealand, eds Lisa Emerson and Gail Pittaway, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, 17.2, Special Issue no 21, October 2013
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning editor, ‘Writing creates ecology: ecology creates writing’, eds Martin Harrison, Deborah Bird Rose, Lorraine Shannon and Kim Satchell, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, 17.2, Special Issue no 20, October 2013
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning editor, ‘Scriptwriting as creative writing research’ eds Dallas Baker and Debra Beattie, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, 17.2, Special Issue Number 19, October 2013
Brien, Donna Lee, Commissioning/contributing editor, ‘Nonfiction now’ eds David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, 17.2, Special Issue no 18, October 2013
Brien, Donna Lee and Adele Wessell ‘Cookbook’ MC Journal, 16.3, June 2013
General series editor, Brien, Donna Lee, ‘Women’s Experimental Writing’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue no 17, April 2013
Brien, Donna Lee and B de la Harpe, JF Peterson and T Mason, RMIT, Co-editors, ‘Strengthening Learning and Teaching in the Creative Arts: CreateEd 2008-2012’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue no 16, October 2012
Nigel Krauth & Brien, Donna Lee, Nigel Krauth, Co-editors, ‘Creative Writing as Research II’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue no 15, October 2012,
General series editor, Brien, Donna Lee, ‘Beyond Practice-led Research’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue, October 2012, Special Issue no 14
Toni Risson and Donna Lee Brien (eds) ‘Food issue’, Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, June 2012
Jill Adams and Brien, Donna Lee (eds), ‘Coffee’, M/C: Media and Culture, May 2012
Brien, Donna Lee and Nigel McLoughlin (UK), Co-editors, ‘Creativity: Cognitive, Social and Cultural Perspectives’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, April 2011
Brien, Donna Lee, editor, ‘Leadership in Writing and the Creative Arts’, TEXT Special Issue, October 2011
General series editor, Brien, Donna Lee, ‘Creative Writing in the Asia-Pacific Region’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 10, April 2011
General series editor, Brien, Donna Lee, ‘ASPERA: New Screens, New Producers, New Learning: Papers from the Australian Screen Production Education and Research Association Conference of July 2010’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue 11, April 2011
Brien, Donna Lee and Adele Wessell, Co-editors, ‘Rewriting the Menu: the cultural dynamics of contemporary food choices’, TEXT Special Issue no 9, October 2010
Brien, Donna Lee, Sandra Burr and Jen Webb, Co-editors, ‘Creative and practice-led research: current status, future plans’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue no 8, October 2010
Brien, Donna Lee, Jen Webb and Nigel Krauth, Co-editors, ‘The ERA Era: creative writing as research’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue no 7, October 2010
Brien, Donna Lee and Adele Wessell (eds), ‘Pig’, M/C: Media and Culture, October 2010
Brien, Donna Lee and Rosemary Williamson (eds) ‘Supervising the Creative Arts Research Higher Degree: Towards Best Practice’, TEXT: The Journal of Writers and Writing Courses, Special Issue, October 2009
Brien, Donna Lee and Axel Bruns (eds), ‘Collaborate’, M/C: Media and Culture, 9.2, May 2006
Brien, Donna Lee and Helen Yeates (eds), ‘Love’, M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 5.6, November 2002
Brien, Donna Lee and Nigel Krauth (eds.), Australian Creative Nonfiction, TEXT special website series, n.1, April 2000, (with Nigel Krauth)
Journalism and Professional Writing - Professional Writing
All non-fiction genres including creative nonfiction; biography; autobiography and memoir; self-help; essay writing; the personal essay; long-form journalism including feature writing
Performing Arts and Creative Writing - Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting)
My interests are in all areas of creative writing, editing and publishing, especially non-fiction but also fiction.
I am especially interested in the publishing end of the process, including producing work with publication in mind, and the ways to be published in the 21st century.
All aspects of food writing and publishing of special interest.
