Bronwyn Lay is a writer and lawyer based in Melbourne.

Her work across fiction, essays and law circles one question: what conditions — social, legal, ecological — make it easier for humans to be good. Her debut novel, All Ordinaries (Dirt Foundation, 2026), follows a child growing up in a 1970s Australian alternative community — one attempt at building those conditions, and what it could and couldn't hold. Her essay Imaginary Exile was shortlisted for the ABR Calibre Prize and her essays and scholarship have appeared in Eureka Street, Meanjin, Life Writing, The Journal Jurisprudence, Overland and international art and legal publications. Her first book, Juris Materiarum: Empires of Earth, Soil and Dirt (Atropos Press, 2016), argued for law's recognition of the material relations between humans and their habitat.

Her legal career began as a criminal and family lawyer in the community sector. She later worked in Europe as a legal consultant to international NGOs on law reform, environmental crime and ecocide law, and has since worked with universities and community organisations on ecological justice. Her current work sits at the intersection of disasters and the law.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws and Arts from the University of Melbourne and a PhD from the European Graduate School.