Brady was born on June 7, 1943, in Mount Vernon, New York and spent her adolescence in Florida.
[9] In 1982, she wrote the novel Folly out of a desire to cast a woman who was an outsider in her community splintered by racism, homophobia, patriarchy and capitalism as a hero.
In 1978, Brady founded the lesbian feminist publishing company Spinsters Ink with Judith McDaniel.
[14][15][16][17] Brady has served as the editor of many books, including The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde, Spinsters Ink (1980), and The Words of a Woman Who Breathes Fire: Poetry and Prose by Kitty Tsui, Spinsters Ink (1983).
[19] Curated by Harmony Hammond, the show was the first lesbian-identified art exhibition in the United States.