David Brooks is a poet, novelist, short-fiction writer and essayist. He has taught literature at various Australian universities, and from 1999 until 2018 was co-editor of Southerly, Australia's premier journal of Australian literature and new Australian writing. He is a vegan and animal rights advocate, and lives in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. In 2014 he was awarded an Australia Council Fellow ship for his distinguished contribution to Australian and international literature.