I originally taught in the French Department in Trinity College, Dublin before going to Hull University where I researched and taught twentieth-century womens writing. Since returning to Ireland in 2000, my publications and teaching have been mostly in the area of Irish womens writing. I am particularly interested in inter war womens fiction, Irish womens short stories, the theme of nation and gender in Irish womens fiction, the mother-daughter relationship in twentieth-century womens fiction, and in the theme of spirituality in womens writing.

I participated in a five-year project supported by the British Academy, European Intertexts, studying womens writing as part of a European fabric. I have published numerous articles on womens writing in periodicals such as The Years Work in English, Irish University Review and Irish Studies Review. I have reviewed for academic journals and regularly give conference papers on aspects of womens writing. Authors covered include Virginia Woolf, Kate OBrien, Edna OBrien, Maeve Brennan, Elizabeth Bowen, Jennifer Johnston, Rose Macaulay and George Egerton. I have supervised Ph.Ds on womens writing and been external examiner for Ph.Ds in Hull University and the University of Miami. I have been invited to give two plenary lectures on Irish womens writing at international conferences in 2012.