About

I am a Lecturer in American Studies, teaching on a range of North America focused historical, cultural, and literary modules.

Research interests

My primary research focus is on Twentieth Century and Contemporary American literature, especially the relationship between literature and the cultural industries, the role of editors in literature, and awards culture.

I am also interested in the social role and development of American comic books and graphic novels.

Recent publications

Books

Cormac McCarthy’s Literary Evolution: Editors, Agents, and the Crafting of a Prolific American Author. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2016.

Articles

“'It might be better to burn them”': Archive Fever in the Gilead novels of Marilynne Robinson” in Rachel Sykes, Jennifer Daly, Anna Maguire Elliott (eds), Marilynne Robinson Casebook (forthcoming, Manchester University Press).

“The Rise of the Comics Künstlerroman, or, The Limits of Comics Acceptance: The Depiction of Comics and Graphic Novelists in Contemporary Prize-Winning Literature” in Open Library of Humanities (2018).

“The Crafting of Queer Domestic Space in Jaime Hernandez’s Love and Rockets”. International Journal of Comic Art, Vol 16, No 2, 413-430 (2015).

“Primrose’s Cat: Suttree’s Deleted Scenes.” in Rick Wallach (ed), You Would Not Believe What Watches: Suttree and Cormac McCarthy’s Knoxville, 2013, 198-205.

“Consulting Physicians: The Role of Specialist Medical Advisers in Cormac McCarthy’s Contemporary Fiction.” Literature and Medicine, Vol 30, No 2 (2012), 315-332.

“Albert Erskine at Random House: The Cormac McCarthy Years.” Comparative American Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2011), 254-72.

Roundtables

"The Art of Editing" in Journal of American Studies (forthcoming). 

“Contemporary Studies Network Roundtable: Responding to Robert Macfarlane’s ‘Generation Anthropocene’” in Open Library of Humanities with Rachel Sykes, Arin Keeble, Daniel Cordle, Joanne Scott, Diletta De Cristofaro, Andrew Rowcroft, and Neelam Srivastava (2017).

Editorial Roles

“The Speculative Fiction of Emily St John Mandel”, special issue of Open Library of Humanities, with Diletta De Cristofaro (2019).

Membership of professional bodies

I am a member of the British Association for American Studies (BAAS), the Irish Association for American Studies (IAAS), and the Cormac McCarthy Society.

I am also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Qualifications

• BA (hons), English and American Studies, Keele University
• MRes, American Literature, Keele University
• PhD, American Literature, University of Nottingham

Recent conferences

Lectures

2017 – “Albert Erskine: American Literature’s ‘Great Editor’”, visiting lecture delivered at the University of Virginia.

2016 – “Prize Winning Comics: A Post-Millennial Phenomenon”, public lecture delivered as part of the University of Nottingham's Popular Culture Lecture Series.

Conference Papers

2017 – “Albert Erskine At Random House: The Cormac McCarthy Years”, presented at the British Association for American Studies Conference, Canterbury Christ Church.

2016 – ““It might be better to burn them”: The Construction and Rejection of Written Histories in the novels of Marilynne Robinson”, presented at the Marilynne Robinson Symposium, Nottingham Trent University.

2015 – “Cormac McCarthy's Historical Bad Guys.” presented at “The Contemporary Bad Guy” Conference, St. Andrews University.

Teaching responsibilities

I deliver teaching across a range of American Studies and English modules, including:

• From Civil Rights to Hip-Hop: African-American Lives
• Culture and Counter-Culture
• Thought and Culture 3
• American Youth Cinema
• The Making of Modern America
• The Wilderness and the Imagination