Emma Mary Kirby

(she/her)

Overview

I started my Full-time PhD in Critical and Creative Writing in January 2023. Prior to this, I received a First-Class Honours Degree from Oxford Brookes University, an MA in Creative Writing from Portsmouth University and an MA in Nineteenth Century Literature from King's College London (Distinction). 

I am currently writing a neo-Victorian ghost story, under the supervision of Professor Ann Heilmann and Dr Meredith Miller. My aim is to employ a Gothic framework to draw upon neo-Victorian fiction's engagement with contemporary concerns, specifically in relation to Britain's colonial past. 

I delivered a paper to the ENCAPsulate Conference in 2023 on 'Colonial Huantings in Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger' and in 2024, my ENCAPsulate paper explored the the position of the neo-historical writer: 'Reviving and Revising the Past'. I also contributed the 2024 VPFS Study Day - 'Silenced Voices and Erased Agencies in Victorian Life and Fiction' by delivering a paper on 'Colonial Unspeakability'. I will be attending and contributing to the BAVS in-person hub at Cardiff in September 2024 and speaking about my current project: 'Writing neo-Victorian Fiction: Spectres in the Shadows'. I am currently writing a book chapter for Bloomsbury's forthcoming 'Haunted Lives' collection.

Prior to starting my PhD, I published numerous educational resources and articles for A Level and GCSE Literature.