BRENDON MCLEOD

Brendon McLeod is an award-winning emerging writer of novels, short stories, poetry, and theatre. He is a second-year PhD candidate in creative writing at The University of Sydney. He was awarded the Arthur Macquarie Travelling Scholarship to aid research for his creative thesis, a novel in verse titled Rēweti: A Pākehā-Māori. He won Indiana Review’s 2025 Fiction Award for his short story The Message. His unpublished novel, The Rhinoceros was awarded a fellowship from The Writers’ Space to Varuna The National Writers’ House. His poem split mind was shortlisted for the 2023 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize. His poems and short stories have been published or are forthcoming in Rabbit Poetry, Overland, Australian Poetry Journal, Quadrant, The Catholic Poetry Room, Verge, Vernacular Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, Haunter Review, The Minetta Review, and Indiana Review. He has been invited to read his poetry at AVANTGAGA at Sappho Books, and the Banjo Patterson Poetry Festival. He is a jazz musician and works as a music teacher. His work often explores the lived experience of mental illness. He lives and works on Wiradyuri country in regional New South Wales.