Austlit

Mona Brand was educated at Rockhampton Girls' Grammar School and North Sydney Girls' High School. She worked during the Second World War as an industrial social welfare worker and later as a research officer with the Department of Labour and National service. She travelled and worked in Europe and in Hanoi before returning to live in Sydney in 1958. Brand was married to Len Fox (q.v.) who shared her commitment to socialism.

Brand's plays reflect this political commitment. Much of her work has been professionally produced overseas, including in Budapest and Moscow, and she worked intensively with the New Theatre, Sydney, writing numerous satirical sketches for social and political revues produced by them (ca.1950s-1970s). Brand also wrote television scripts and published a book of songs based on Gilbert and Sullivan light operas as well as poetry, novellas and educational books for schools.

Brand's grandfather was Francis Hodgson Nixon.