Brendan Watkins is an Australian author. After a diverse career in the entertainment and not-for-profit sectors he took 12 months out to investigate and record his complex ancestry. Five turbulent years later his best-selling memoir, 'Tell No One' was published. The book received significant media coverage and led to calls for a federal government investigation by prominent stakeholders. 'Tell No One' was longlisted for the 2023 Walkley 'Longform Journalism' Book Award. Brendan has recently begun developing a new autofiction novel. He swims, a lot.
'After decades of searching, I discovered that my birth parents were a Catholic priest and a nun.
'Tell No One' explores the questions, anxieties and reflections arising from this hidden past.'
'When I was eight years old, my parents told me I was adopted. In my late twenties, I found out the identity of my birth mother – but she wanted nothing to do with me.
For thirty years there was only limited communication with my birth mother, and I knew nothing about my birth father. In 2018, a DNA test led me to the truth: I'm the son of a missionary priest. He had studied in a Trappist monastery in Ireland, had a career as a house builder, was a Bondi Lifesaver, a trophy-winning ballroom dancer, was a landscape painter, met Mother Teresa and toured the world.
An astounding story of scandal, deception and coercion had been uncovered, a truth that must be told.' Brendan Watkins
'I read 'Tell No One' in one sitting. I could not put it down. Everyone needs to know where they come from. Brendan's persistence against secrecy and lies was a powerful reminder that many end their lives without knowing. I so wanted a fairytale ending and then I remembered how cruel institutionalised religious power is to children and women. Read it and weep and then get strategic - it has to end.’
Wendy McCarthy AO
