I am Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University.
My research focuses on how we tell the stories of experiences that are difficult to narrate. My early work looked at how contemporary fiction represents traumatic histories. I have also looked at the potential of literature to help us better understand experiences of illness and pain.
My recent work focuses on grief, particularly those experiences of loss that are culturally sensitive or overlooked. I wrote a book based on my own experience of losing my sister to suicide. I have also collaborated with colleagues in medicine, the neo-natal intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, and artist-researcher Kate Sweeney, to make a short film with parents who had lost one baby from a multiple pregnancy.
I am currently working on a project to record the grassroots memorial in a group of trees near The Angel of the North. I am collaborating with sound artist David de la Haye to make a short sound work that combines conversations with people who have left memorial objects and messages at The Angel with field recordings of the site itself.
I am committed to working with communities beyond the university. In 2017, I was the recipient of a national award for a collaborative project with Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books. In 2023, I received a university award for the project on neonatal loss.
I have lived in the north-east of England all my life. In my spare time, I enjoy walking and visiting beaches.
For more information about my research, see my university profile.
If you’d like to be in touch about any aspect of my research, please email me.