Charlotte Ireland

• Associate Researcher, Department of English, University of Birmingham

My research interests lie in popular fiction and contemporary women's writing, particularly chick lit and romance. I am interested in the evolution of genres, popular culture and contemporary feminisms.

My PhD thesis, The Diversifying, Politicising and Maturing of Anglophone Chick Lit Alongside Changing Feminist Ideologies and Genre Fluidity (English Literature, University of Birmingham, 2024), explores the evolution of chick lit in relation to contemporary feminisms, examining how the genre has diversified and responded to shifts in cultural and political landscapes. I am currently developing this research into a monograph, Neo Chick Lit: The Diversifying, Politicising and Maturing of Chick Lit (Routledge, expected 2026).

I have published research, including“Prince Charming with an Erection”: The Sensational Pleasures of the Bonkbuster (Contemporary Women's Writing, 2024):

I am an Associate Lecturer at the University of Worcester, where I lead modules on Practical Research in Sociology and Capitalism and Globalisation. My current teaching topics include: sociological research methods, global capitalism, book and reading cultures, neoliberal feminism and popular culture.

I am also an Associate Researcher at the University of Birmingham, I contribute to the Romance Research Group's project on the marketing of romance fiction in British culture. I have previously worked as a Research Assistant on the British Popular Romance in Britain and in Commonwealth Countries project and have served as a peer reviewer for CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture and the Journal of Popular Romance Studies.

I am also working with the EUniWell-funded project Literature and Social Change: Building a Reading Laboratory to Combat Transphobia and Xenophobia (LIT-LAB). This project examines the social impact of literary fiction, exploring whether students' views on migration, refugees or displaced people shift based on the books they read.

I am actively involved in public engagement and impact initiatives, including the #RespectRomFic movement, and I co-lead the University of Birmingham's Romance Reading Group. I have presented my research at international conferences, including the Popular Culture Association and the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance.

My work is dedicated to exploring the cultural significance of women's fiction, the evolving nature of feminist storytelling and the ways in which popular fiction both reflects and shapes contemporary social issues.

• –present Lecturer in English Literature and Sociology, University of Worcester

• 2024 University of Birmingham, PhD

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