Rate My Professor Bronwyn Lea

Professor Bronwyn Lea is a Professor in the School of Communication and Arts at the University of Queensland, within the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. She teaches and conducts research in contemporary literature, poetics, creative writing, research-led practice, and gender studies. Lea completed her PhD in 2005 at the University of Queensland's School of English, Media Studies and Art History with a thesis entitled The way into stone; To dwell in possibility: social roles of the poet. In her career at UQ, she has held significant leadership roles, including Head of the School of Communication and Arts and currently serves as Deputy President of the Academic Board. She is available for higher degree research supervision and has successfully supervised 51 completions, including PhD and MPhil theses on topics such as poetry, narrative, and creative practice, with ongoing supervisions in areas like historic narrative in contemporary poetics and metamorphosis in literature.

Lea's scholarly and creative output is substantial, with 104 works documented in UQ eSpace spanning 2000 to 2026. Her poetry collections include Flight Animals (University of Queensland Press, 2001), The Wooden Cat and Other Poems (Picaro Press, 2003), The other way out (Giramondo Publishing, 2008), and The deep north: a selection of poems (George Braziller, 2013). She co-edited the prestigious Best Australian Poetry series from 2005 to 2009 with Martin Duwell, curating selections of outstanding poems from Australia's literary journals. Key book chapters feature "Poetics and poetry" in The Cambridge Companion to Creative Writing (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and recent contributions such as "Entry wound" (Australian Poetry, 2025), "The Shape of Air," and "The Way It Moves Around You" in Belonging (Australian Catholic University, 2025). Lea regularly publishes reviews and poems in leading outlets including Australian Book Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Antipodes, and Island, covering contemporary poetry, theatre, and literature. Her contributions extend to newspaper articles in The Conversation, The Guardian, and The Australian, and she serves as a media expert on Australian poetry, publishing, and literary studies. Lea's work has shaped creative writing pedagogy and the discourse on Australian literature through her editorial, supervisory, and authorial roles.