David Leser is an Australian journalist, author, interviewer and keynote speaker. He was born in Montreal, Canada and grew up in Sydney.

In his 46 year-career, David has been a Middle East and Washington D.C correspondent, as well as feature writer for the Australian, HQ magazine, the Bulletin, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne Age, the Australian Women’s Weekly and Good Weekend magazine.

He is the recipient of several awards for his journalism, including two Walkley Awards, the first in 1999 for best magazine feature writing [Who’s Afraid of Alan Jones]; the second in 2024 for Commentary, Analysis and Opinion [The Israel-Gaza War]. He has been nominated for a Walkley on three other occasions and won two national magazine awards for story of the year, as well as a United Nations human rights commendation.

A Doctor of Creative Arts, David is the author of seven books, including his anthology of profiles, The Whites of Their Eyes, his memoir, To Begin To Know: Walking in the Shadows of my Father, shortlisted for the 2015 National Biography Award, and Women, Men & the Whole Damn Thing – his study of patriarchy and misogyny in the age of #MeToo.

He is the executive producer of the 2012 award-winning documentary Paul Kelly: Stories of Me, about the life and musical career of Australia’s pre-eminent songwriter, as well as editor of Paul Kelly: The Essays, and, in addition to his journalism, works as a speech writer, writing mentor, guest lecturer and interviewer at writers’ festivals.

Since publication of Women, Men & the Whole Damn Thing in 2019, David has also become a keynote speaker at corporate events and schools on issues relating to patriarchy, misogyny, gendered violence, gender equality and healthy masculinity.