is an Australian writer and broadcaster.
He’s the author of The Family Law (2010), Gaysia (2013), the Quarterly Essay Moral Panic 101 (2017) and editor of Growing Up Queer in Australia (2019).
Benjamin is also an AWGIE Award-winning screenwriter and playwright. He is the co-executive producer, co-creator and co-writer of the Netflix comedy-drama Wellmania (2023), playwright of Melbourne Theatre Company’s acclaimed plays Torch the Place (2020) and Dying: A Memoir (2025), and creator and co-writer of three seasons of the award-winning SBS/Hulu/Comedy Central Asia TV series The Family Law (2016–2019).
One of Australia’s most prolific interviewers, Benjamin has deep-dived with Jennifer Coolidge to a crowd of 8000, Fran Lebowitz at the Sydney Opera House, Martha Stewart to an audience of 3500, and interviewed the likes of Bernie Sanders, Gloria Steinem, David Suzuki, Michelle Yeoh, Matthew McConaughey, Roxane Gay, David Sedaris and Brian Cox – both the English physicist and Scottish actor – for his weekly column in Good Weekend.
As a broadcaster, he’s hosted ABC TV’s two-part feature documentary on Chinese-Australian history Waltzing the Dragon, episodes of ABC TV’s Compass and co-hosted ABC Radio’s Stop Everything with Beverley Wang for half a decade. He has also appeared on TV shows like Australian Survivor (Ten), Filthy Rich and Homeless (SBS), Q&A (ABC), The Drum (ABC) and The Project (Ten). He has also written for over 50 publications in Australia and beyond—including the Monthly, frankie, Guardian, Monocle and Australian Financial Review.
He is the co-chair of Co-Curious, board member of Story Factory and an ambassador for Plan International Australia, the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, Twenty10 and the Pinnacle Foundation.
Benjamin has a PhD in creative writing and cultural studies from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). In 2019, he was voted one of the 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians, winning the Arts & Culture category of the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards.
He works and lives on Gadigal Country, part of the Eora Nation (Sydney, Australia).
For media appearances and book-related enquiries, contact Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency.
For screenwriting and playwriting enquiries, contact Jenn Naughton at RGM Artists.
For public speaking and MC enquiries, contact Speaking Out.
You can find Benjamin on Instagram.
Illustration: Grace Lee
Website: Connor Tomas O’Brien