Here are a few of my recent projects, followed by my research interests
Writing / Podcasts / Projects
I enjoy writing, speaking, and planning events about women writers from the 18th and 19th centuries! Here are a few of my projects that I particularly enjoyed.
Listen
As a guest on this episode of the One HNDred Watt Podcast, I discuss non-profit work, Charlotte Bronte, and Jane Austen with Host Dayna del Val!
Read
I wrote the Introduction for a new edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 2021. You can check it out here!
Learn
I’m currently writing the entry on Jane Porter for the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Romantic-Era Women’s Writing. Coming later this year!
Recent Lectures on Scotland, Literature, and Pop Culture
I enjoyed giving recent talks on William Wallace and Outlander for the Celtic Arts Foundation and Bellingham Celtic Festival, placing both pop culture figures and phenomenons into historical and literary context, including the history of the historical novel, Highland Games, and contemporary British politics
Research Interests
18/19th Century British Women Writers
The Lives and Works of: Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Porter, Sydney Owenson, Frances Burney, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Eliza Haywood, the Brontë’s, George Eliot, Christina Rossetti, and more!
The Scottish Chiefs
This 1810 novel about William Wallace was the focus of my doctoral dissertation. I studied its text as well as paratext (footnotes, prefaces, illustrations) to analyze how bestselling author Jane Porter re-wrote British history to with contemporary political goals, including glorifying the role of women in history. By doing so, Porter paved the way for other women to write about history and politics, and also helped create the genre of historical fiction.
Women’s Letters and Life Writing
I love to study how women writers like Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen, either deliberately tried to craft an effective public persona, or had their personas altered after their deaths to fit expectations for women writers.
Archival and Rare Books
Using archival material in the New York Public Library, National Library of Scotland, Chawton House Library, Burney Collection at McGill, British Library, Durham University Library, and the Huntington Library, I’ve performed extensive research on unpublished letters and rare editions of women’s writing, particularly Mary Hays, Jane Porter, Jane Austen, Frances Burney, Charlotte Brontë, Maria Edgeworth, and more.