Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Professor Susan Watkins
Professor
Susan Watkins is Professor of Women's Writing in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She is an expert in contemporary women's writing and feminist theory, with particular research interests in dystopia, apocalyptic fiction, ageing and the future.
Susan's most recent book is about contemporary women’s post-apocalyptic writing. As well as her interests in Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, and contemporary women's dystopian and apocalyptic fiction, Susan is currently working on research projects on ageing and the future and ageing and the cultural industries. She welcomes proposals from prospective PhD students in these areas and in the broader field of women's fiction and feminist theory.
Susan is a founder member and former Chair of the Contemporary Women's Writing Association and previously a Co-Editor of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature. She was Director of the university's Centre for Culture and the Arts for 10 years.
Susan's main teaching at undergraduate level includes modules on Twentieth-Century Literature: Alienation and Dystopia (level 5) and Twentieth-Century Women Novelists: Feminist Theory into Practice (level 6). At MA level she teaches the modules Literature in Practice and Contemporary Apocalyptic Fictions.
Current Teaching
Susan's main teaching interests are in contemporary women's fiction and feminist theory. On the BA (Hons) English Literature programme she teaches Twentieth-Century Literature: Alienation and Dystopia (Level 5) and Twentieth-Century Women Novelists: Genre and Gender (Level 6 option). On the MA English: Contemporary Literature pathway, she contributes to the Creative Criticism module, leads the Literature in Practice module and teaches a specialist module on Apocalyptic Fictions.
Research Interests
Susan has previously published books on the Nobel prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing, on scandalous fictions in the twentieth century, on twentieth-century women novelists and feminist theory and on British women’s writing 1945-1975.
Ask Me About
- Contemporary women's dystopian and apocalyptic fiction
- Doris Lessing
- Margaret Atwood
- Ageing
- Culture
- Feminism
- Gender
- Literature
News & Blog Posts
Why is dystopian literature so appealing to students?
Squid Game: Why we’re so obsessed with dystopian fiction
Covid-19 and Culture - podcast mini-series
The Best Books to Read in Quarantine
Other people in this area
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Professor Jayne Raisborough
Professor / School Of Humanities And Social Sciences -
Dr Rachel Rich
Reader / School Of Humanities And Social Sciences -
Dr Andrew McTominey
Research Assistant / School Of Humanities And Social Sciences