Brendan is an award-winning author and teacher. He has twice received National Literary Awards from the Fellowship of Australian Writers for his short stories, and his first book, The Drowned Man, was joint winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime in 2017. His second book, the critically acclaimed Venom, was featured on the ABC's Conversations program as part of the 'Best of 2018' series. The School was released by Picador Australia in 2021.