Featured Speakers

Dr. Johnson Ocan is a Senior Lecturer of Comparative Literature In the Department of English, Literature Unit, at Kabale University, P.O BOX 317, Kabale, Uganda. His areas of research Interest lie in but are not limited to the following areas: Post-colonial theory and Literatures; Literature of the Black Diaspora, Literature and Gender; and African Oral Literature, Acholi Folklore and Indigenous Knowledge, Queer romantic literature and theories. The link to his public record can be accessed on: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2577-6780 His latest publications can be accessed through https://scholar.google.com.tw/scholar; researchgate.com     

   Dr. Artemis Papailia holds a PhD (2022) in Children’s Literature from the    Department of Education Sciences in Early Childhood of the Democritus University of Thrace (Greece) and she is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the same area. Currently she works as an Adjunct Professor of Children’s Literature at Democritus University of Thrace. Her scientific reflections focus mainly on theoretical approaches to Children's Literature, on issues of meaning-making strategies and reader-response theories.

Abel Fenwick is a recent graduate of Royal Holloway University of London, where she was awarded the Martin Holloway prize for her dissertation, ‘Binding the Wound’: A Trauma Theory Reading of Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights’. Her interests include the interplay of psychology, horror and the gothic in film and literature, as well as evolutions in representations of criminality and queer identities. Recent conference papers delivered as an independent scholar include ‘We Need to Talk About Joffrey: Murder, Meaning and the "Evil Child" Post-Columbine’ and ‘All-Consuming Desires - The Re-Emergence of the Queer Cannibal Figure in 21st Century Television’.

Diti Vyas is an Associate Professor in the School of Creative Practices and Entrepreneurship(SCoPE) at Anant National University, Ahmedabad, India. Her doctoral research focusing on Indian children’s literature in English and regional languages, has received national and international accolades by bodies such as International Research Society for Children's Literature (IRSCL). Her research in the areas of gender studies, children's literature,  sustainability communication, has been published in peer-review journals of repute. She represents Gujarat in the collection of Folk tales, Legends and Modern Lore of India, “The Owl Delivered the Good News All Night Long” by Aleph Book House. She is engaged in a research project on “Archiving and Reviving Lullabies in Gujarati Language"under Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) Internships Program by AICTE. More on : https://anu.edu.in/faculty/dr-diti-vyas-2

Marie O’Brien graduated from Mary Immaculate College, Ireland with a first class Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Language and Literature and Theology and Religious Studies in 2018. She is currently in her final semester of her PhD in English Literature, with her completed thesis now submitted for examination. Her research interests include Victorian literature, Children’s Literature, Psycholinguistics and Psychoanalytical Theory, specialising in the study of Peter Pan, and consequently the author J. M. Barrie and his other novels for her thesis. She has tutored first, second and final year undergraduate students for the English Language and Literature Department in Mary Immaculate College for three years, covering poetry, drama, fiction and literary theory with 40 students a week.

Prachi Kambli is a post-graduate student of English Literature from the University of Mumbai. She is currently in the final semester of her Master’s program and has recently submitted her thesis on the intersection of horror cinema with the ideas of gender. Her interests include the critical understanding of the narrative and cinematic positioning of women in media and literature, queer theory and its practices as well as sociolinguistics. Her research paper titled “Decoding Comedy: An Analysis of Gender in Schitt’s Creek” is now published as a part of the anthology, Popular Culture and Media: Perspectives & Prospective, which can be found at the following link: https://www.lap-publishing.com/catalog/details/store/de/book/978-620-6-15071-8/popular-culture-and-media?search=media%20and%20popular%20culture.

Ekshita Arora (She/Her) is a Master's student at Lund University in Sweden, studying Media and Communication Studies. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi. Her work experience mainly lies in advertising and academic ghostwriting. Currently, she is focusing her research on queer diasporic audiences, identity performances, pop culture, political allegiances, and media engagement. You can reach her at ek0313ar-s@student.lu.se.

Kate Ellis (they/them) is currently an MA student in Critical Disability Studies at York University (Toronto, CA). Drawing on their background in gender studies, communication and media studies, and critical disability studies, their work is broadly concerned with the way that media created both by autistic and outsider communities impact public perceptions of gender differences in autism. They are currently working on their master's thesis, which reads the blogs of late-diagnosed autistic women to understand their perceptions towards gender differences in autism and how "female autism" has been constructed as a category in the popular imagination.