Karen Brooks (author)

Karen Brooks is an Australian author, columnist, social commentator and academic.

Brooks was born Sydney, New South Wales, and now lives in Hobart, Tasmania, with her partner and two children. As well as her fantasy novels for children and young adults, written under both Karen Brooks and Karen R. Brooks, she has also published short stories and non-fiction works. Her most recent fantasy trilogy is The Curse of the Bond Riders. Brooks was a member of the "Brains Trust" on the ABC TV quiz show, The Einstein Factor and she was listed in the inaugural edition Who's Who of Australian Women (2007). Her non-fiction book, 'Consuming Innocence: Popular Culture And Our Children' (2008), examined the complex relationship that children have with popular culture and addressed the roles that both popular culture and parents play in creating children’s ideas of themselves.

In 2007, Brooks received a citation from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, part of an Australian Government program to recognise and reward teaching excellence in higher education, for sustained public engagement in the field of communication and cultural studies resulting in both theoretical and practical learning outcomes for students. The following year, in recognition for her work at the institution over the previous eleven years and, in particular, for her development of a new method of teaching popular culture. Brooks was made Honorary Senior Fellow of the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Brooks is currently an Honorary Research Consultant in the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, at the University of Queensland, where she lectures in the areas of media, youth, sexuality and popular culture using a psychoanalytical model. She has established both a national and international reputation for her work, and her research and social commentary is regularly published in Australia and overseas.