One of Australia's best-known writers Brenda Niall is the author of four award-winning biographies. She has an AO for services to Australian literature, and an honorary D.Litt. from Monash as well as degrees from the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and Monash University. As Reader in English at Monash University, she gave courses on Australian literature, American literature, biography and autobiography. She has held visiting fellowships at the University of Michigan, Yale University and the Australian National University; and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She now writes full-time, and is a frequent reviewer for the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Book Review.