Benjamin Law (born 1982) is an Australian author and journalist. He is best known for his books ''The Family Law'', a family memoir published in 2010, and the TV series of the same name. He hosts the radio programme and podcast ''Stop Everything'' for

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

Early life and education

Born in around 1982"Law unto himself: The Family Law author Benjamin Law"
''Meld'', 27 March 2012.

Nambour, Queensland Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...

, to immigrant parents from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, He was educated at Immanuel Lutheran College on the Sunshine Coast.

Career

''The Family Law'' is a family memoir published in 2010. It was a shortlisted nominee for Book of the Year at the 2011

Australian Book Industry Awards The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association annually in Sydney "to celebrate the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Australian books to readers". ...

, and was adapted by Matchbox Pictures into a six-part television series for the SBS network in 2016, which Law created and co-wrote with

Marieke Hardy Marieke Josephine Hardy (born 26 May 1976) is an Australian writer, radio and television presenter, television producer and screenwriter and former television actress. Early life and family Hardy is the granddaughter of Frank Hardy, author of ...

(Series 1) and Kirsty Fisher and

Lawrence Leung Lawrence Leung (born 25 August 1977) is an Australian comedian, writer, director and actor from Melbourne. He is best known for his television series ''Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure'' based his one-man shows on stories about his obs ...

(Series 2). It won the Screen Producers Awards for Best Comedy (2016) and was nominated for two

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

. In 2012 Law published ''Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East'', a journalistic exploration of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

life in Asia.

Robert Dessaix Robert Dessaix (born 17 February 1944) is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist. Biography Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney and adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after which he was known as Robert Jones. Tom Jones, a ...

"Queer and Loathing"
''

The Monthly ''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...

'', September 2012. At the 2012

Sydney Writers' Festival The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in Sydney, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The festival's interim artistic director since ...

, he presented on the topic of bullying, for a panel with

Wendy Harmer Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

and

Paul Capsis Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. In November 2015, he advocated for gay people in a public discussion hosted by

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had ...

Pride (a Mildura Rural City Council Initiative). The social inclusion initiative focused on making Mildura more welcoming for LGBTIQ communities. In April 2018, Law became an ambassador for the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

. As a journalist, he has contributed to publications including ''

Frankie Frankie may refer to: People *Frankie (musician), indie pop musician from Los Angeles, California * Frankie Abernathy (1981–2007), American MTV Real World cast member *Frankie Adams (born 1994), Samoan New Zealand actress *Frankie Avalon (born ...

'', ''

The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'', ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since i ...

'', ''

'' (including a 2014 supplement on the

Museum of Old and New Art The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is an art museum located within the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere. MONA houses ancient, mode ...

), ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...

'' and its ''Qweekend'' supplement, ''

Griffith Review ''Griffith Review'' is a quarterly publication featuring essays, reportage, memoir, fiction, poetry and artwork from established and emerging writers and artists. Each edition focuses on a contemporary theme, enabling pertinent issues to be aired ...

'', ''

New Matilda newmatilda.com, commonly known as New Matilda, is a left-wing independent Australian website of news, analysis and satire. History The website was established by John Menadue in August 2004. Its founding editor was Natasha Cica. The website is ...

'',

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

's ''Good Weekend'' magazine, ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or indivi ...

'' and ''

Crikey Crikey is an Australian electronic magazine comprising a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. Crikey was described by the former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular website in Parliament House" in ''The ...

''.

Other roles

Law is founder member of the

Australian Writers' Guild The Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) is the professional association for Australian performance writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media. The AWG was established in 1962. The AWG is a member of the Australian Council of ...

's Diversity and Inclusion Action Committee, along with

Kodie Bedford Kodie Bedford is an Aboriginal Australian screenwriter, filmmaker and playwright from Western Australia. She is known for her play ''Cursed!'', and work on several television series, in particular the 2021 comedy series ''All My Friends are Ra ...

and others.

Bibliography

Books

*''The Family Law'' (2010, ) *''Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East'' (2012, )

Co-authored

* ''Sh*t Asian mothers say'', Collingwood, Vic. : Black Inc. (2014, ) – with sister

Michelle Law Michelle Law is an Asian Australian writer and screenwriter. She is known for the web series ''Homecoming Queens'', and the book ''Sh*t Asian Mothers Say'', co-authored by her brother Benjamin Law, and her 2017 play ''Single Asian Female''. Ea ...

* ''Law School : sex and relationship advice from Benjamin Law and his mum Jenny Phang'', Melbourne, Vic. Brow Books (2017, )

Contributed chapters

* "Tourism", pp. 147–152, and "Towards manhood", pp. 195–203, in: ''Growing up Asian in Australia,'' Melbourne, Black Inc. (2008, ) * In: ''Voracious: best new Australian food writing'', edited by Paul McNally, Prahran, Vic. : Hardie Grant Books (2011, ) * In: ''I'm not racist but ... forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act'', by Tim Soutphommasane, Sydney, N.S.W. NewSouth Publishing (2015, ) * In: ''The book that made me'', edited by Judith Ridge, Newtown, NSW Walker Books Australia (2016, ) * "Beijing", pp. 349, in: ''Best Australian comedy writing'', edited by Luke Ryan, Affirm Press, South Melbourne, Victoria (2016, )

Introductions

* In: ''Me and Mr Booker,'' by Cory Taylor, Melbourne, Victoria : The Text Publishing Company (2017, )

Essays and reporting

*
"Chinese-Australian history predates the first fleet – and my family helped me find out how"
''The Guardian'', 24 July 2019.

Interviews

*''The women who shaped my life'' (August 2010). Cleo, pp. 100–102. *Morris, Linda (21 December 2012). "Benjamin Law". ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', p. 6. *Tabart, Sally (July 2019)
"A Day In The Life Of Benjamin Law, Writer"
''The Design Files''. *Tabart, Sally (April 2020)
"Times Like These... With Writer Ben Law"
''The Design Files''.

As editor

* ''Growing Up Queer in Australia'' (2019, )

Filmography

Law's work includes:http://benjamin-law.com/ He is openly gay."Gay, lesbian or queer writing". ''

The Book Show Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

'', 7 February 2011.

As writer

As actor

Other work

Theatre

Radio

References

External links

*
Austlit profileIMDb pageInterview for ''No Filter''The Kids are Alright
speech for

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is a statutory authority in the Australian state of Victoria. It replaced the Equal Opportunity Board , set up by Victorian Premier Dick Hamer Sir Rupert James Hamer, (29 July ...

Work
for

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

Work
for

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Law, Benjamin 21st-century Australian male writers Australian journalists Australian memoirists Australian people of Hong Kong descent Australian people of Chinese descent Australian gay writers LGBT memoirists Living people Writers from Brisbane 1982 births LGBT journalists from Australia LGBT rights activists from Australia Australian people of Asian descent 21st-century memoirists 21st-century LGBT people