The Reading Writing Futures group has one of the of the largest PhD programs in literary studies and creative writing in Australia. Our unique nexus between the creative and the critical help us to identify how literature has been mobilised in political agendas. We also explore how writing and reading practices help us to actively transform and renew how we engage with each other and the world around us.
Through our research, we use writing and reading to rethink primary relationships between past and present expressions of culture, between selves and others, and between beings and places.
The School of Communication and Creative Arts is a leader in socially engaged and impactful research. Our researchers produce high-quality research outcomes across a traditional and non-traditional research spectrum, partnering with multiple stakeholders from government, industry and the not-for-profit sector. Led by our group convenors, the Reading Writing Futures group has seven current research streams:
Boasting award-winning writers, we reflect on literature’s relation to settler-colonialism and its possibilities for decolonialism, representations of place, forms of storytelling, print culture, and the significance of regional and global networks.
Our internationally renowned and interdisciplinary research of young adult and children’s literature has had a recent focus on cross-cultural representations, representations of gender and sexuality, and its interface with science.
With expertise in fantasy and romance fiction, we study the constitution of fan cultures and the relationship between genre fiction and politics.
Bringing together leading writers and scholars in auto/biography, autofiction, creative nonfiction and memoir, we consider what forms contemporary life writing might take and how we might reconceptualise engagements with the archive.
Our concentration of leading and emergent poet-scholars is working across a range of areas including First Nations poetries, poetry in the public sphere, cross-disciplinary poetries (such as prose poetry and ekphrasis), social poetics and translation.
Typically interdisciplinary in scope, we have a concentration in feminist and LGBTI/queer writing. From the local to the transnational, we have a particular interest in research involving archives, education, diaspora and inclusion.
This stream focuses on embodied forms of writing and performance. We also consider the impact of AI technologies on practices of writing, reading and pedagogy, as well as understanding the co-existence of physical and virtual domains.
When you study a PhD or postdoctoral research with the Reading Writing Futures group, you'll be supported by renowned researchers.
Our partnerships with government, community and industry allow us to deliver research with impact. We lead bold initiatives that seek solutions beyond traditional research and organisational boundaries.
This Future Fellowship project, led by Dr Helen Young, aims to understand how narratives about the medieval past help form identities and spread ideologies in the present, across the political spectrum, time and national borders.
This project, led by Associate Professor Sue Chen, examines how science was communicated and translated to young readers through literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The project investigates how children’s literature was used to encourage readers to gain scientific literacy and spark interest in science from a young age.
The Reading Writing Futures group delivers innovative projects through our extensive professorial team, led by:
Professor Ann Vickery is a professor of writing and literature in the School of Communication and Creative Arts. Her research interests include social poetics, 20th and 21st century American poetry, Australian poetry, Australian and American modernism, archival methodologies and literary feminisms.
Dr Andrew Dean is a lecturer in writing and literature in the School of Communication and Creative Arts. His research areas are in late 19th, 20th, and 21st century world anglophone and American literature.
Professor Cassandra Atherton, Associate Head of School, Research
Dr Robin Bellingham, Senior Lecturer, Pedagogy and Curriculum
Associate Professor Geoff Boucher, Associate Professor of Writing and Literature
Professor Clare Bradford, Emeritus Professor
Dr Gilbert Caluya, Lecturer, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Associate Professor Marion Campbell, Visitor
Associate Professor Sue Chen, Associate Professor, Writing and Literature
Dr Evelyn Araluen Corr, Lecturer
Dr Andrew Dean, Lecturer in Writing and Literature
Dr Jonathan Dunk, Lecturer
Hayley Elliott-Ryan, Associate Lecturer, Writing, Literature and Culture
Dr Rachel Fetherston, Lecturer
Dr Karen Le Rossignol, Senior Lecturer
Dr Janine Little, Senior Lecturer in Communication
Dr Ramon Lopez Castellano, Lecturer in Spanish
Dr Stefanie Markidis, Lecturer
Dr Jodi McAlister, Senior Lecturer, Writing and Literature
Professor David McCooey, Personal Chair
Professor Lyn Mc Credden, Emeritus Professor
Dr Alyson Miller, Senior Lecturer
Associate Professor Kristine Moruzi, Associate Professor, Writing and Literature
Associate Professor Antonia Pont, Associate Professor, Writing and Literature
Professor Emily Potter, Professor, Writing and Literature
Dr Lenise Prater, Teaching Scholar, Creative Writing and Literature
Dr Bronwyn Reddan, Research Fellow, Pathways to Teenage Reading
Associate Professor Leonie Rutherford, Associate Professor of Writing and Literature
Dr Adriano Tedde, Lecturer, Strategic and American Studies
Dr Paul Venzo, Senior Lecturer, Writing and Literature
Professor Ann Vickery, Professor, Writing and Literature
Associate Professor Patrick West, Associate Professor, Writing and Literature
Dr Helen Young, Senior Research Fellow (Future Fellowship)
Dr Tyson Yunkaporta, Senior Lecturer, Indigenous Knowledges
Our ties with external partners ensure that our research connects with industry and community. Our partners include:
Take an in-depth look at our latest research, available in a variety of formats and publications. For a full list of publications visit the profile pages of our researchers.
Latest publications:
Featured publications:
Our team is here to connect with you – and help you learn more about the Reading Writing Futures Group. Email our group convenors below or visit the Writing, Literature and Culture blog to keep up to date with the latest news.
