I grew up in rural Northern Ireland in a small hilltop village in the Mourne Mountains, and for as long as I can remember I’ve had a passion for literature, and a fascination with how different cultures are represented in writing. As a child literature was my window to the world, but I’ve never been content with the idea of passively observing the world through that window: I wanted to get out there and experience other cultures for myself. With that goal in mind I’ve pursued a career path that allows me to combine my love of literature with my desire to live and work in other countries. I took the first steps on this path at the University of Ulster, majoring in English Literature, with a minor in Japanese Studies. After graduating top of my class with First Class Honours I moved to Japan where I taught English in a Japanese high school.

Teaching high school in Japan was a very rewarding experience but I wanted to teach at a higher level, so in 2004 I returned to the UK to pursue postgraduate research and a career in literary academia. I found my time in the Far East had influenced how I view literature and literary culture, giving me a much less eurocentric and canonical viewpoint. In particular I’d gained a strong interest in the literary representations of imperialism within the Asia-Pacific region, and for that reason I chose to pursue the literary discipline of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Kent, specialising in the work of Robert Louis Stevenson. After achieving my MA and PhD I stayed on the University of Kent as assistant lecturer, lecturing on Nineteenth-Century Literature and the cultural climate of the Victorian era.

As a literary academic my research has been centred in the space between nineteenth-century literature and colonial and postcolonial studies, with my PhD thesis ''''Robert Louis Stevenson: Identity and Ideology in the Late Victorian British Empire'''' typical of my research interests. I have written and delivered conference papers on a variety of aspects of Robert Louis Stevenson’s oeuvre, with my most recent published project being a chapter on Stevenson and shipwrecks. Branching off from my thesis, my research interests include the Imperial Romance; concepts of ''''Islandness'''' in colonial and postcolonial literature; representations of Polynesia in eighteenth-century literature; and contemporary Pacific island writing. In addition I am interested in British literary representations of China; the intersection between European and Japanese colonialism; psychogeography; the American Gothic; and the New Weird.

There’s a saying ‘happy the man who gets paid for his hobbies’, and I’m very lucky to be able to indulge my interests in literature and experiencing world cultures by teaching at BNUZ. Outside of literature and travel I’m a keen surfer, and I enjoy listening to music and playing the guitar.