Coral Lansbury is well known in Australia as a prize-winning feature and drama writer for the ABC. She once owned a radio and television company, Lansbury Productions, and conducted a talk show.

In the United States, Dr Lansbury has been at the forefront of the animal rights movement and has just published a book in which she explores the roots of the anti-vivisection movement. The book, The Old Brown Dog: Women, Workers and Vivisections in Edwardian England (University of Wisconsin Press), has received rave reviews. Lansbury does not deal with contemporary animal rights issues in her book, but she does make it clear why the old anti-vivisection movement failed and why the current animal rights movement has been so successful in sensitizing people to animal suffering.