David Leser

Author, Education Consultant, Inspirational Speaker, Personal Development, Social Issues, Storyteller

As a journalist and author with more than 40 years experience working in Australia, Asia, Europe, the United States and Middle East, David Leser is a compelling speaker, able to weave the personal with the universal in moving ways that help shift our thinking.

Where were you born?

Montreal, Canada

What other jobs have you had?

Author of 7 books

Executive Producer: Paul Kelly, Stories of Me

Australian stringer, European Vanity Fair

Writer-at-large The Australian Women’s Weekly

Staff Feature Writer, Good Weekend magazine

Staff Feature Writer, HQ Magazine

Staff Feature Writer, the Bulletin

Staff Feature Writer, the Australian magazine

Middle East Correspondent, South China Morning Post

Washington D.C Correspondent, Newhouse News Service

What themes are recurring in your work?

Gendered violence and the patriarchy, masculinity, misogyny and male mental health; Climate Change; Asylum seekers; the Middle East conflict; Music; how to live ethically and, more generally, a fascination for people’s lives and contradictions.

What have been the highlights of your career?

Winner of Walkley Award for feature writing.

Four Walkley Award nominations.

3 National Magazine Awards for feature writing.

Australian Human Rights Commendation for feature writing

Shortlisted for National Biography Award

Executive Producer award-winning documentary on singer/songwriter Paul Kelly

The first man to write a book on patriarchy and misogyny in the age of #MeToo – Women, Men & the Whole Damn Thing.

Publication of Women, Men & the Whole Damn thing in the United States, in 2021.

Public interviews for the Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle and Byron Bay Writers Festivals, including Andrew Denton, Malcolm Fraser, Michael Leunig, Geoffrey Robertson, Jennifer Byrne, Helen Garner, Kerry O’Brien, Irina Baronova, Nelson Mandela’s personal secretary (Zelda La Grange), Paul Kelly, Rob Hirst, Peter Garrett, Stan Grant.

Where have your works been published?

Journalism published in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Europe, Hong Kong.

Books published in Australia, New Zealand, the United States.

What are you passionate about?

People, ideas, ethics, journalism, the intersection between science and spirituality; addressing sexual violence, discrimination and racism, conflict and conflict resolution, music, guitar playing and singing, Nature and meaningful action on climate change, walking, swimming, my friends and family and, most particularly, my two daughters.

Haven’t I seen you before?

I’ve been interviewed on ABC and commercial television with respect to my books, and also appeared regularly as an interviewer at writers festivals around the country.