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Dr Susan Civale

Susan is Reader in Romanticism, with research and teaching interests that span the nineteenth century.

Susan is Reader in Romanticism at Canterbury Christ Church University, and Co-director for the International Centre for Victorian Women Writers (ICVWW).  She has research interests that span the ‘long’ nineteenth century, in particular around life writing, women’s writing, gothic literature, and authorial and textual afterlives.      

Susan is Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE).  She currently convenes modules including The Art of Criticism: Writing about Literature (Year 1); British Romanticism: 1785-1831 (Year 2); True Story: The Art of Nonfiction (Year 3); Dissertation Foundation (Year 3); Nineteenth-Century Crime Fiction (MA), and contributes to several others.

Susan’s research focuses on Romantic and Victorian literature, with an emphasis on life writing and literary nonfiction, women’s writing, gothic literature, and authorial and textual afterlives. Susan’s first book, Romantic Women’s Life Writing: Reputation and Afterlife was published by Manchester University Press in 2019. She is currently writing a monograph on Mary Shelley commissioned for the Key Popular Women Writers series, to be published in 2025.

Susan has supervised research students working on Romantic and Victorian literature and culture, as well as Neo-Victorian studies. A full list of research student supervision (past and present) can be found below.

Research Projects

  • Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Mrs Lizzy Duffield-Fuller. Supervisor(s): Dr Susan Civale, Professor Carolyn Oulton. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Dr Alyson Hunt. Supervisor(s): Dr Susan Civale, Professor Carolyn Oulton. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • Literary Salem: An Evolution of a Post-colonial Gothic. Researcher(s): Miss Sarah Lawrence. Supervisor(s): Dr Susan Civale, Dr Stefania Ciocia. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Not simply a ‘literary editor’ 1 : reassessing Rose Weigall as a writer of women’s stories and an advocate for women’s agency.. Researcher(s): Mrs Elizabeth Earl. Supervisor(s): Dr Susan Civale, Professor Carolyn Oulton. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • The ‘Strange’ Disappearance of Henrietta Stannard: Rediscovering the Life and Work of John Strange Winter, a fin de siecle celebrity. Researcher(s): Mrs Toni Atkinson. Supervisor(s): Dr Susan Civale, Professor Carolyn Oulton. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • The Mission of Mary Eliza Haweis (1848-1898). Researcher(s): Miss Laura Allen. Supervisor(s): Professor Carolyn Oulton, Dr Susan Civale. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • The Persistent Scribblers Society: an 1870s writing society and its association with Canterbury and the Church of England.. Researcher(s): Mrs Michelle Crowther. Supervisor(s): Dr Susan Civale, Professor Carolyn Oulton. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • The Voices of Ellen Courtenay- the Life and Work of Ellen Courtenay as Madame Helene Steinberg- Actress, Appeal Memoirist, Lecturer and Poet.. Researcher(s): Mrs Trina Willis. Supervisor(s): Dr Susan Civale, Professor Carolyn Oulton. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • UNJUSTLY NEGLECTED”: RECLAIMING VICTORIA HOLT AS A PIONEER OF NEO-VICTORIAN FICTION. Researcher(s): Dr MANDY JONES. Supervisor(s): Dr Stefania Ciocia, Dr Susan Civale. [Postgraduate Research Project]

Susan has given a range of invited talks and keynotes, academic conference papers, public lectures and public engagement activities. Most recently, she was awarded a grant by the Being Human Festival to run a 'Hub' of events across Kent in 2023 around the theme of 'Women Making Sense'.