Mona Brand was born in 1915. She has written on a wide variety of topics, usually of social relevance and often new to Australian playwriting. Her major work, Here Under Heaven (1948) tackles the dilemma faced by a Chinese war bride in Australia. It has been translated and performed in China and Eastern Europe. Here Comes Kisch! (1948) dealt with government action against the visit of the Czech anti-war activist Egon Kisch in 1934. In the comedy-drama Down Under Chelsea (1991) she focused on Australian Communists and ex-Communists living in London in the late 1940s and 1970s. Since 1948 Brand has had 24 plays, mostly full-length, staged in Australia and overseas. Between 1953 and 1976 she was almost a house playwright of New Theatre, Sydney.
