Ms Katie Margaret Hall
Contact
- Email: k1931654@kingston.ac.uk
- Location: Kingston School of Art, Knights Park
- Faculty: Kingston School of Art
- School: School of Arts, Culture and Communication
- Department: Department of Humanities
- Personal website
Research project: Queer as Friends: rewriting the platonic-romantic relationship binary between women / Writing as knowing: locating creative nonfiction in queer feminist knowledge creation
Abstract
Queer as Friends is a practice-based creative non-fiction project which interweaves confessional memoir with queer/feminist theoretical discourse. It proposes a manifesto for unconventional friendships between women. It is intended to be both an autoethnographic approach to scholarship and a celebration of queer friendships as a feminist act.
The narrative is an experimental non-chronological patchwork structure of micro-chapters comprising mixed forms. Encompassing intimate details and experiences from ten of my own unconventional, boundary-crossing, friendships, their disruptive potential and radical effects will be uncovered and examined. This builds on the emerging market of creative non-fiction by women, books that successfully blend memoir with qualitative research (Gilbert 2007, Moran 2011 2012, Russell 2016, Nelson 2015, Wilby 2017).
The project's critical component is integral. I will explore the practice of writing the self as queer feminist methodology, in order to address the question: why is creative writing not yet accepted as scholarship?
- Research degree: Practice-based PhD
- Title of project: Queer as Friends: rewriting the platonic-romantic relationship binary between women / Writing as knowing: locating creative nonfiction in queer feminist knowledge creation
- Research supervisor: Dr Martin Dines
- Other research supervisor: Dr Helen Palmer
Biography
Following a long term career in the UK voluntary sector, I shifted focus to my writing practice. As well as a freelance contributor to LGBTQ+ media publications, I am a creative writing practitioner across many forms: poetry, short and long fiction, and audio and TV drama. I was longlisted for the 2020 Primadonna Award and shortlisted for the Lichfield Cathedral 'The Word' inaugural poetry award (2019). I am currently editing my debut novel, the coming-of-age tale To Autumn, and perform and produce a comedy mystery scripted podcast series. I created and wrote the UK's first lesbian web series, 'She's in London'.
Other research interests include widening access to undergraduate research opportunities, as a member of the wrap team at the University of Warwick https://wrapprojectwarwick.blog/.
Areas of research interest
- Creative non-fiction
- Poetry
- Feminist literary theory
- Queer literary theory
Qualifications
- MA in Writing, University of Warwick (merit)
- PGDip Voluntary Sector Administration, London SouthBank University (merit)
- BA (Hons) English Literature, University of Warwick
Funding or awards received
- Techne DTP
Conference papers
- 'Queering memoir in theory and practice' at On Transversality conference (2020)
- 'Findings from the wrap project' at Warwick Education Conference (2019)