Cirrus@Austlit

Melbourne-based musician and writer, and an active member of Melbourne's Jewish community. Presser is best known for his multi-award-winning debut novel, The Book of Dirt.

Bram Presser has worked in Melbourne as a lawyer and still occasionally practises criminal law (as at 2018): he was a Bachelor of Laws Prize recipient in 2000 (Butterworths Prize: Advanced Legal Research). After graduating with honours in 2004, he became senior lecturer in Critical Criminal Law at Melbourne University. He was admitted to practice in 2010.

The frontman of Australian Jewish punk rock bank Yidcore, he performed with them from 1998 to their final show in 2009, including several tours of Israel. Yidcore originally specialised in punk covers of Jewish and Israeli songs, although they later wrote their own material, and released albums including The Great Chicken Soup Caper and They Tried to Kill Us. They Failed. Let's Eat! Presser has also performed at the Melbourne Jewish Comedy Festival, and performed as the voice of Mick Molloy's character in the film Boytown.

Presser began writing after Yidcore ended in 2009, and has published a number of short stories, as well as a monthly column in the Australian Jewish News. His first novel, The Book of Dirt, was released in 2017, and won three categories at the 2018 NSW Premier's Literary Award (Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, and the People's Choice Award). The novel draws on the experiences of his grandfather, Jan Randa, and his great grandmother, Frantiska Roubickova, during the Holocaust.

Australian Writing and Rock Music affiliation: songwriter, vocals.