★ CONFERENCES / PRESENTATIONS / GUEST LECTURES

‘Open Your Heart of Wild Honey’: Medievalism in Leonora Carrington’s The Hearing Trumpet. The Middle Ages in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Relevance, Reimagination, Inspiration, University of Stavanger, 22–23rd Aug 2024.

‘Scotland’s First Flight: 1507.’ History of Scotland, Glasgow 2024 WorldCon, 8-12 Aug, 2024.

‘When the fairy sang, the whole world listened’: The extra dimensionality of magic in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. MAPACA Summer Virtual Symposium, 4 Aug 2024. Online.

‘Doubling and Drag in The Boy Who Followed Ripley.’ Captivating Criminality 11, Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, 27-29 Jun 2024.

‘Magic Hath Ravished Me.’ Magickal Women, Birmingham, England, 22 Jun 2024.

‘Danse Macabre: Witchcraft, Ritual, and Modern Dance.’ Popular Culture Association National Conference, Chicago, 27-30 Mar 2024.

‘Judith’s Hybrid Elfin Beauty.’ Surrealisms 2023: Conference of the International Society for the Study of Surrealisms, Houston TX, 9-11 Nov 2023.

‘”Good Migrant” or Anti-Christ?: Rauf’s “Saracen” and Dunbar’s Alchemist.’ The International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Languages, Literature and Culture, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 18-23 Jul 2023.

‘Double Mirror: The Pleasures of Unconscious Drag in Ripley Under Ground.’ EUPOP2023, University of Stirling, Scotland, 1-3 Jul 2023.

‘Detective Instinct: Duelling Amateur Sleuths in Crimson Peak.’ Captivating Criminality 9, Bangkok/Online, 2-4 Mar 2023.

‘Tarot Noir: William Lindsay Gresham’s Nightmare Alley.’ The Viktor Wynd Museum, 2 Mar 2023.

‘Enchanted: Why Magic Persists Across Millennia.’ Berkshire OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series. Online, Dec 2022.

‘Cry Tantivy and Gallop: Subverting Salvation in Leonora Carrington’s Little Francis.’  ISSM Surrealisms, Online, 17-20 Nov 2022.

‘Ivy Grows on the Boundary between Noir and Gothic.’ MAPACA,  10-12 Nov 2022.

‘Open Your Lunar Plexus with Leonora Carrington.’ Magickal Women Conference, London, 15 Oct 2022.

‘Negotiating the Apocalypse with Leonora Carrington’s The Hearing Trumpet.’  The Viktor Wynd Museum,13 Oct 2022.

‘Open Your Heart of Wild Honey: Medievalism in Leonora Carrington’s The Hearing Trumpet.’ Eighth Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, Cork, 5-7 Jul 2022.

‘”Good Migrant” or Anti-Christ?: Rauf’s “Saracen” and Dunbar’s Alchemist.’ 3rd World Congress of Scottish Literatures, Prague, 24-8 June 2020. CANCELLED RESCHEDULED Jun 2022

“Cut Me a Robe from Toe to Lobe: Ritual, Transformation, and the Persistence of Knowledge in The Witches (1966)”. PCA/ACA, 13-16 April 2022.

‘Conjuring Authenticity on Campus.’ Contemporary Folk Horror in Film and Media. Leeds Beckett University, 30-31 July 2020. CANCELLED RESCHEDULED Dec 2021 Jan 2022

‘Wearing My Last Skin’. ISSM Surrealisms, Nov  2021.

‘Big Witch on Campus: Fear of Female Power in Conjure Wife and Night of the Eagle.’  MAPACA, 11-13 Nov 2021.

‘Slice of Life: How Curiosity Killed the Katz.’ Popular Culture Association National Conference, Philadelphia PA, 15-18 April 2020. CANCELLED  2-5 June 2021

‘The Oval Lady: Leonora Carrington.’ Magical Fiction Forum, London, 28 Feb 2021.

‘Fake It ‘til You Make It: Forgery as Authenticity in The Burnt Orange Heresy and Ripley Underground.’ Captivating Criminality 7, Bath Spa University, 2-4 July 2020. CANCELLED

‘Danger’s Bright Face: Existentialism and Foreignness in The Cross-Eyed Bear Murders.’ Northeast PCA Conference, Portsmouth NH, 15-6 Nov 2019.

‘Spoiling all the Paintwork: Mark E. Smith, Art Renegade.’ Always Different, Always The Same: A Symposium on The Fall, U Limerick, 7 Nov 2019.

‘Leonora Carrington’s Hearing Trumpet.’ Treadwell’s Books, 1 Aug 2019.

‘The Celtic Influences in Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell.’ WorldCon, Dublin Ireland, Aug 2019.

‘Gaming Ripley.’ Captivating Criminality, Pescara Italy, 12-5 Jun 2019.

‘The Sounds of Salvation: Leonora Carrington’s The Hearing Trumpet.‘ Magickal Women Conference, London, 1 June 2019.

‘Courtes of Kynd: A Tale of Two Peasants.’ International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo MI, May 2019.

‘This is My [Sound] Design.’ Popular Culture Association National Conference, Washington DC, April 2019.

‘”Improvisation is a beautiful word”: Tove Jansson & Living Art Every Day.’ Keynote address. 20th Anniversary Conference of the Finnish Institute in [Tokyo] Japan, 21-22 November 2018.

‘Good Vibrations: Medieval Community & Healing Sound.’ Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Healing Charms and Medicine, Harvard University, 6-8 Apr 2018.

‘Blanc et Noir: Erasing Race from The Blank Wall.’ PCA/ACA Annual Conference, Indianapolis IN,28-31 Mar 2018.

‘How to Use Social Media as an Author.’ Hudson Valley Writers Guild Annual Meeting, Albany Public Library, 11 Nov 2017.

‘Femme Non-Fatal: Holding’s Noir Classic The Blank Wall.’ NEPCA Conference, Amherst MA, 27-28 Oct 2017.

‘The Sound of Healing.’ 5th Annual International Symposium on Adaptive Technology in Music and Art (ISATMA), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, 20-22 Oct 2017.

‘Lollard Magician: Jonathan Strange & the Reform of English Magic.’ World Con 75, Helsinki, 9-13 Aug 2017.

‘The Hermeneutics of Noise: The Sounds of Salvation in Russell’s Tommy.’  Ken Russell: Perspectives, Kingston University London 14-16 Jul 2017.

‘The Medieval Kingship of John Uskglass.’ MAMO 3, University of Manchester, 28 Jun-1 Jul 2017.

‘Stranger Dangers: Sexuality, Adolescence & The End of Everything.’ PCA, San Diego CA, 12-15 Apr 2017

Divine Write (reading+workshop). Troy NY, 26 Feb 2017.

Guest Curator, We the Humanities. 6-10 Feb 2017.

‘Chaucer and the Art of the Grift‘ and ‘Are you tweeting this?’: Best Practices and Possible Guidelines for Social Media in the Academy – A Round Table Discussion. International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, 4-7 July 2016.

‘The Sound of Magic.’ Digital Britain: New Approaches to the Early Middle Ages, Harvard University, 25-6 March 2016.

Guest Speaker, Fantasy and American Culture, Trinity College, Hartford CT, 17 Nov 2015.

Panelist: Magic is the essential ingredient of Epic Fantasy… except when it isn’t. World Fantasy Convention, Saratoga Springs NY, 5 Nov 2015.

Accidents in a Very Busy Place: Kurt Vonnegut in Schenectady, Schenectady Co. Historical Society, 11 Apr 2015.

Although born a Hoosier and later became a Manhattanite, Kurt Vonnegut spent a very important part of his life in Schenectady. How did Schenectady affect the work of renowned author? He worked as a PR man for GE where his brother was a researcher. Vonnegut even became  a volunteer fire-fighter. As he began writing novels, Vonnegut used Schenectady as a setting, sometimes disguised as the fictional town of ‘Ilium’ as well as incorporating Troy, Scotia, Niskayuna and Cohoes, which he made the home of his most famous creation, failed science fiction writer Kilgore Trout.

No Reason for Pessimism: Exploring Aki Kaurismäki’s Finnish ‘Noir’. Popular Culture Association National Conference, New Orleans, LA, 1-4 Apr 2015.

Reader, Hudson Valley Writers Guild, Albany Central Library, 1 Mar 2015.

Panelist, Crime in the Library, Nassau Free Library, 10 Feb 2015.

Panelist, Crime in the Library: Mavens of Mayhem (SinC), East Greenbush Publish Library, 31 Jan 2015.

Panelist, NoirCon, Philadelphia, PA, 30 Oct-2 Nov 2014.

Conscious Monster: Creating the Killer in Dorothy Hughes’ In a Lonely Place. Crime Fiction: Here and Now, There and Then, Gdansk, Poland, 11-13 Sep 2014.

The ‘Old Weird’: Recognising the Medieval Roots of the ‘New Weird’. LonCon3 (WorldCon 72), London, UK, 14-18 Aug 2014.

“What It Ain’t: Bucking Tradition in Lynda Barry’s One! Hundred! Demons!” International Graphic Novel/IBDS Conference, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 24-28 June 2013.

“Twitter for Writers.” Lecture: Mavens of Mayhem, Upper Hudson Sisters in Crime, Bethlehem Public Library, Bethlehem NY, 20 Apr 2013.

“Dark Carnival”: Reading with members of Broad Universe. Annie’s Book Stop, Worcester MA, 13 Apr 2013.

“Social Media & Writers in the Digital Age: How have Facebook, Twitter and such changed the life of the writer in the 21st century?” Albany Public Library Reading Series, 10 Apr 2013.

“Knocking from Inside: Forging Strength through Pain in V for Vendetta and The Story of O.” 43rd Popular Culture Association Conference, Washington DC, 27-31 Mar 2013.

“How to Keep Writing with a Full Time Job.” Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 25 Mar 2013.

Fulbright Scholar in Digital Humanities, Moore Institute/Institiúid de Móra, National University of Galway, September 2011-June 2012.

“Social Media & Open Scholarship.” Lecture to Digital Humanities PhD Students. The Moore Institute, NUIG, 6 March 2012.

“Converting Monks into Friars: Creating Public Scholars in the Digital Age.” Fulbright Address. The Moore Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, December 6, 2011.

Over the Edge Third Annual Fiction Slam, Galway City Museum, October 14, 2011.

“Bringing a Medieval Woman to Life.” Great Writing Conference, Imperial College London, June 18-19, 2011.

“Medieval Interiors: The Circumscribed World of Christina of Markyate.” 41st Popular Culture Association Conference, San Antonio TX, April 20-25, 2011.

“Converting Monks into Friars: Scholars in the Digital Age.” Keynote speech. Craft/Critique/Culture Conference, April 16-17, 2011.

“Carnival of the Animals.” Saint Rose Camerata, April 8, 2011.

“Sticking with It: Writing with a Full Time Job.” East Line Books, July 24, 2010.

“Rite Here: Ritual, Performance and the Magick of Place.” Magus: Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Work of Alan Moore, University of Northampton, May 28-29, 2010.

“A Bigger, Better Beowulf: Masculinity & Medieval Film.” 40th Annual Popular Culture Association Conference, St. Louis MO, March 31-April 3, 2010.

“Poe and ‘Palakainen'” (reading). Poe and the Writers of New England, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. October 29-31, 2009.

“Revising Masculiinity in Beowulf. ” Studies in Medievalism Conference, Siena College. October 8-10, 2009.

“Harry Potter and Medieval Magic.”  Sterup Medieval Festival. September 12, 2009.

“140 Characters: Narrative and New Media.”  Great Writing Conference, University of Bangor.  June 19-21,2009.

“Avast Land Lubbers!: Reading Lost Girls as Post-Sadeian Text.” Angela Carter: A Critical Exploration, University of Northampton. June 5-6, 2009.

Organizer and presider, “Teaching Medieval Texts with Popular Culture” sponsored by the Medieval Popular Culture Area, Popular Culture Association. 44th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 7-10, 2009.

Organizer and presider, Medieval Popular Culture panels. 39th Annual Popular Culture Association Conference, New Orleans LA, April 8-11, 2009.

Organizer and presider, “Medieval Masculinities on Film” sponsored by the Medieval Popular Culture Area, Popular Culture Association. 43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 8-11, 2008.

“‘We’ll Have to Invent a New Language’: Medievalism and Gender Construction in Moira Buffini’s Silence.” Bone Dreams Conference, University of Oxford.  April 26, 2008.

Guest speaker. RELG 250, Women and Religion (Honors), Religious Studies Department, Siena College. April 11, 2008.

Panelist, “The World of Tolkien.” William K. Sanford Town Library, Colonie, NY. April 1, 2008.

“Phror, becadom, sissirishic and huwf: Alan Moore writes without some pictures.” 38th Annual Popular Culture Association Conference, San Francisco, CA. March 19-22, 2008.

Guest speaker. SSP 100.36, Myth Conceptions, Classics Department, Skidmore College. November 8, 2007.

“Heofen rece swealg : Neomedievalism and Spectacle in Grendel: Transcendence of The Great Big Bad.” 22nd Annual Conference on Medievalism, London, ON. October 4-6, 2007.

“Domus Inferna Sancti Guthlaci: A Rediscovery of the Twelfth-Century Narrative of The Saint and the Money Pit.”  42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 10-13, 2007.

“Medieval Community:  Lessons from The Black Knight.”  42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 10-13, 2007.

“Finnish Charms: Appropriating Folk Magic from the Kalevala and Kanteletar.” Forging Folklore Conference, Harvard University.  May 3-5, 2007.

“Pissing, Shagging and Roaring:  Performing Masculinity in Beowulf and Grendel.”  37th Annual Popular Culture Association Conference, Boston MA. April 4-7, 2007.

“Roses, Beads and Bones: Gender, Borders and Slippage in Tove Jansson’s Moomin Comics.”  Tove Jansson Conference, Oxford, England.  March 24, 2007.

“Sorceress  and Anchoress:  Visualizing the Lives of Medieval Women.” 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 3-7, 2006.

Panelist, “Writing the Middle Ages for Young Readers: A Roundtable.” 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 3-7, 2006.

“‘Half a Giant’:  Performing ‘Green’ Masculinity in Sword of the Valiant:  The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” 36th Annual Popular Culture Association Conference, Atlanta GA. April 12-16,2006.

“Joy of Warriors: Juliana’s Masculine Ecstasies.”  Gender and Medieval Studies Conference, Cambridge, England.  January 6-8, 2006.

“‘I would like to have him as my friend’:  Masculinizing the Conversion in Njal’s saga.”  Modern Language Association Conference, Washington D. C.  December 27-30, 2005.

“The Body of the Earth in Anglo-Saxon Charms:   An Eco-critical Perspective.” Texas Medieval Association Conference, Houston, TX.  October 14-16, 2005.

“How to Cure Elf-shot and Fend off a Wen.”  The Witching Hour: Harry Potter Symposium, Salem, MA.  October 6-10, 2005.

“A Dozen or So Weird (but true!) Facts about the Middle Ages.”  Trinoc-Con, Raleigh, NC.  July 15-17, 2005.

“Casting the Circle: Ritual and the Body of the Goddess.”  The Conference on Women and the Divine, Liverpool, England.  June 17-19, 2005.

“You do not have the right to remain silent: Women and Magic in the Corrector et medicus of Burchard of Worms.”  40th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI. May 5-8, 2005

“Imagineer: Clive Barker’s Queering of the Conservative Bent of Horror Literature.” 2005 NEMLA Convention, Cambridge, MA. March 31-April 2, 2005.

“The City as the Body of the Poet: William Blake’s London in Alan Moore’s Angel Passage.” 35th Annual Popular Culture Association, San Diego, CA.  March 23-26, 2005.

Organizer, Medieval Popular Culture Area.  35th Annual Popular Culture Association, San Diego, CA.  March 23-26, 2005.

“Blood Feasts and Roof Riding: Women as Witches in Anglo-Saxon England.”  2004 South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Roanoke, VA.  November 12-14, 2004.

Co-Organizer. Thinking About Teaching: Approaches to General Education and the Core Curriculum, UHD, Houston, TX. October 1, 2004.

Public Relations Assistant/Academic Liaison. Mythic Journeys, Atlanta, GA.  June 3-6, 2004.

“‘Viþ wif gemædlan’:  Women as Witches in Anglo-Saxon England.”  39th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 6-9, 2004.

“Medieval Research Without Tears.” Fantastic Genres, New Paltz, NY.  April 30-May 2, 2004.

Organizer, Medieval Popular Culture Area.  34th Annual Popular Culture Association, San Antonio, TX.  April 7-10, 2004.

“Alas, Comitatus!:  Writing about Medieval Texts in Sophomore Lit.”  Sharing Voices: Second Annual Conference on Teaching and Writing, Houston, TX.  February 27, 2004.

“Smokescreens:  Transparent Disguises, Fog and Smoke in the Fóstbrœ∂ra saga.”  38th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 7-11, 2003.

Organizer, Medieval Popular Culture Area.  33rd Annual Popular Culture Association, New Orleans, LA.  April 16-19, 2003.

“Living the Mystery: Sacred Drama Today.”  33rd Annual Popular Culture Association, New Orleans, LA.  April 16-19, 2003.

“Inevitable Enmity.”  Invited speaker, NEH-sponsored Symposium on The Book of Kings, Walters Art Museum, October 2002.

“‘It is a trifling matter for God, my lord’:  St. Óláf’s Practical Magic in the Heimskringla.”  37th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 2-5, 2002.

“Translating Saint as (Vi)king: St. Óláfr in the Heimskringla.”  36th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 3-6, 2001.

“Construction of a ‘Female Hero’:  Iconography in Les aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec.”  31st Annual Popular Culture Association, Philadelphia, PA.  April 11-14, 2001.

“‘Most Foul, Strange, and Unnatural’: Shakespeare’s Hamlet as Gothic Touchstone.”  30th Annual Popular Culture Association, New Orleans, LA.  April 19-22, 2000.

“Reconciling the Dominions: Brigit as Heroic Saint in the Bethu Brigte.”  34th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 6-9, 1999.

Panelist. Technology and Pedagogy Workshop and Roundtable Discussion: “Viking Studies: An Interdisciplinary and Interactive Seminar on the Language, Literature, History, and Culture of Medieval Scandinavia.”  34th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI.  May 6-9, 1999.

“Fairy Tales Told and Retold: Jeff Smith’s Bone and Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting.”  28th Annual Popular Culture Association, Orlando FL.  April 1998.

“‘Our Dreams Are Tales’: Female Comics Artists Reveal Their Sleeping Stories.”  International Comics and Animation Festival, Washington, D.C.  September 1997.

Panel Organizer.  “Saint Margaret.”  32nd Annual Conference on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University.  May 1997.

Panel Organizer.  “Virgin Saints and Cultural Hegemony.” 32nd  Annual Conference on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University.  May 1997.

Co-Coordinator, 15th Annual Medieval Studies Graduate Student Conference, University of Connecticut. April 1997.

“‘A High Steppin’ Filly’: Effluent Jouissance in Dame Darcy’s Meat Cake.”  27th  Popular Culture Conference, San Antonio.  March 1997.

“‘For the grure þaet grap hire’: Horrific Imagery in the Katherine Group Texts.” 31st Annual Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University. May 1996.

“Illusory Adversaries?: Images of Female Power in Sandman: The Kindly Ones.”  26th Popular Culture Conference, Las Vegas.  March 1996.

“False Positives: The Katherine-Group Saints as Ambiguous Role Models.”  30th Annual Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University.  May 1995.

“Evil Rival: Mebd in The Táin.”  12th Annual Medieval Studies Graduate Student Conference, University of Connecticut.  April 1994.

“‘Truth’ and ‘Gentillesse’ in the ‘Former Age’: Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale.”  15th Medieval Conference, Plymouth State College.  April 1994.

★ PERFORMANCES

“Carnival of the Animals.” Saint Rose Camerata, April 8, 2011.

“Runo 46: The Bear.” With Minna Popkin. Kalevala Day, Finnish-American Heritage Society, Canterbury, CT, February 25, 2007.

“Our Favorite Things.” Collegium Mysterium (playing kantele, percussion). Houston, TX, May 2006.

“Calling on the Mythic Muse.” Words and Music Workshop, Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, AR, May 2005.

“Iberian Treasures III.” Collegium Mysterium (playing kantele [Finnish harp]). Houston, TX, February 2003.

“Light of the Nations.” CitySingers of Hartford (as reader).  Manchester & Bristol, CT, March 2002.

“Magic & the Creation of the Kantele.”  Louhi’s Daughters.  Kalevala Day, Finnish-American Heritage Society, Canterbury, CT, February 2002.

“Music and Magic of The Kalevala.” Louhi’s Daughters.  Finn Fest, Philadelphia PA, July 2001.

“Creation of the Kantele.”  With Minna Popkin.  Midsummer Festival, Saima Park, MA, June 2001.

“Kantele Trio.”  Louhi’s Daughters.  Midsummer, Connecticut Audubon Society, Glastonbury, CT, June 2001.

“Music and Magic of The Kalevala.”  Louhi’s Daughters.  Kalevala Day, Finnish-American Heritage Society, Canterbury, CT, March 2001.

“Anglo-Saxon Yule.”  Winter Solstice, Connecticut Audubon Society, Glastonbury, CT, December 2000.

“Väinämöinen and Aino.”  Louhi’s Daughters.  Kalevala Day, Finnish-American Heritage Society, Canterbury, CT, February 2000.

Save