Brenda Joanne Walker was an Australian writer. Born in Grafton, New South Wales, she studied at the University of New England in Armidale and, after gaining a PhD in English (on the work of Samuel Beckett) at the Australian National University, she moved to Perth in 1984. She was a Winthrop Professor of English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia. She had also been a visiting fellow at Stanford University and the University of Virginia. Walker was the sister of songwriter and musician Don Walker, and the daughter of author Shirley Walker.