Black Inc. acquires Mark McKenna biography “Bob Brown: A Life”
Black Inc. has acquired world rights to Bob Brown: A Life, a biography of the Greens founder, politician and activist by Mark McKenna, via Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management.
“By any measure, Bob Brown is one of the most significant figures in Australian politics over the last five decades,” said McKenna. “There are so many different strands of his life – from his bush childhood, to his time as a medical student, hospital doctor and GP; founding member of the United Tasmanian Greens (1972); anti-nuclear campaigner; founding member of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society (1976); leader of the Franklin River Blockade (1982 to 83); Tasmanian Green MP (1983 to 1993); founder of Bush Heritage Australia (1990); founding member of the Australian Greens (1992); Senator in the Commonwealth Parliament and Leader of The Greens (1996 to 2012); host of the world’s first Global Greens Conference (Canberra, 2001) and founder of the Bob Brown Foundation (2012).
“Then there’s his role as an advocate for gay rights and homosexual law reform (1976 to present); and the many lesser-known aspects of his life – poet, diarist, photographer, cultural heritage campaigner and occasional composer – all of which have been integral to his philosophy and politics.”
Black Inc. publisher Chris Feik, who acquired the title, said the book would be “the definitive biography of a key figure in Australian life”.
McKenna is a historian and author of prize-winning books, including The Shortest History of Australia, Return to Uluru, From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories, Looking for Blackfellas’ Point and An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark, which won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for nonfiction and the Victorian, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australian premiers’ literary awards.
Said McKenna: “When I first thought of writing Bob Brown’s biography, I was almost certain that there’d be more than one biographer already working with him. But no – as I soon discovered, he’d been far too busy up until now to commit to working with a biographer.
“In December 2025, I was thrilled when we met for the first time in Tasmania and he agreed to cooperate with me. It’s both an enormous privilege and a daunting challenge. When we met, he jokingly warned me: ‘Mark, there’s a lot of dross!’ But so far, I can’t see much evidence of that.
“[Brown’s] is an extraordinarily rich life, which continues to unfold! At a time when anthropogenic climate change threatens the future of humanity, I see my biography as a chance to place Bob Brown’s life in the same global context that has driven his environmental activism since the 1970s. It’s a rare opportunity, and I’m looking forward to working with Bob and Black Inc. as I research and write his biography over the next couple of years.”
Black Inc. plans to publish Bob Brown: A Life in 2028.
Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions
