Associate Professor
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
I teach undergraduate and Honours level classes in English and Creative Writing and I supervise doctoral and Masters students who are working in the field of Life Narrative. I primarily research in the field of auto/biography studies. I am the author of Dear World: Contemporary Uses of the Diary (University of Wisconsin Press, 2014) and Editor (with Kate Douglas) of Telling Tales: Autobiography of Childhood and Youth (Routledge, 2015). I am the essays Editor for the Australian scholarly journal, Life Writing. In my work, I focus on marginal and evolving forms of life writing, such as essays, diaries, letters, and comics, as well as social media and digital or online modes of self-representation. An ongoing attention to the politics of genre characterizes my research in general. Current projects include a cultural history and literary analysis of the personal essay in the twenty-first century, particularly by Australian writers, and an interdisciplinary project exploring how publishing life writing about trauma impacts the wellbeing of authors.
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence (2014)
CHASS HDR Supervision Excellence (2020)
CHASS Excellence in Teaching (2022)
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Dissertation Excellence - JAN 2014
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Dissertation Excellence - MAY 2017
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Dissertation Excellence - MAY 2017
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Dissertation Excellence - JAN 2019
Best HDR Student Publication - DEC 2020
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Dissertation Excellence - MAR 2023
Essays Editor for Life Writing
Editorial Board, LiNQ (Literature in North Queensland)
Member, IABA (International Auto/Biography Association)
Steering Committee, IABA Asia-Pacific
Co-Director, Flinders Life Narrative Research Group
Regular Guest, ABC Adelaide "Mornings with David Bevan"