Our experts are shaping the landscape in twenty-first-century literary studies, with specialisms in poetry, drama, life-writing, neo-Victorian literature, popular culture, American literature and film. 

Sian Adiseshiah

Professor Siân Adiseshiah

Head of English and Reader in English and Drama

Siân at the forefront of the field of contemporary literary studies. She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal C21 Literature and Editor of the book series Playwriting and the Contemporary: Critical Collaborations, published by Liverpool University Press.

Professor Clare Hutton

Research and Innovation Director (English)

Clare teaches broadly across nineteenth and twentieth century British and Irish literature, and has expertise in digital literary scholarship, digital humanities, and contemporary literature.

Dr Brian Jarvis

Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer in English

Brian is Americanist specialist whose research focuses on contemporary American fiction, film and visual culture, crime and punishment, cultural geography and Marxist critical theory.

Professor Jennifer Cooke

Professor of Contemporary Literature and Theory

Jennifer’s teaching areas of expertise are literary and critical theory, especially feminism, queer and gender theory, affect theory and theories of intimacy and kinship.

Dr Claire O'Callaghan

Dr Claire O'Callaghan

Lecturer in English

Claire's research interests lie in Victorian and neo-Victorian studies, with a focus on gender, sexuality, identity and the body. She is an expert on the lives and works of the Brontës and the writing of Sarah Waters.

Dr Paul Jenner

Lecturer in English

Paul's principal research interests are in North American fiction, philosophy, and intellectual history, with a particular focus on the philosopher and critic Stanley Cavell. He has expertise in fiction, philosophy, and critical theory which forms his teaching.