Yara Rodrigues Fowler
- Email: rwjp8104@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: Abolitionist fiction: theorising the contemporary novel Primary supervisor: Dr Daniel O'Gorman Secondary supervisor: Dr David Wylot
Profile
I joined the School of English in 2024, having spent nine years outside of academia working in comms and later as a community organiser. During that time, I wrote two novels, Stubborn Archivist (2019) and there are more things (2022), as well as occasional reviews and essays on literature and politics.
My novels have been nominated for various prizes, including the Orwell Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize and are taught on various English syllabuses across the UK. In 2023 I was chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. You can read more about my creative writing here.
Research interests
I’m interested in contemporary abolitionist novels published in the UK, and the question of what a novel can do. My research engages with abolitionist writing and activism, and the literary theories of the novel.
‘Abolition’ here does not refer to the 18th and 19th century movement to abolish transatlantic slavery but the feminist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist and, ulimately, Marxist 20th and 21st century movement to end state violence and incarceration and transform society.
My project is funded by a School of English Doctoral Scholarship.
Qualifications
- BA English
- MA Comparative Literature