Helen Cousins

Helen Cousins is a Senior Lecturer in Postcolonial Literature at Newman University, specializing in contemporary Black British writing and African women's literature. She has been affiliated with the university since 1996, serving as Programme Leader for the MRes Humanities programme and contributing to curriculum development in postcolonial studies.

Research Interests:

• Black British Literature and its relationship to the English literary canon
• Diasporic identity formation in Evans, Evaristo, and Oyeyemi
• Human-nonhuman animal metamorphosis in contemporary narratives
• Pedagogical approaches in higher education
• Animal Studies and postcolonial intersections

Scientific Awards & Recognition:

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Multiple HEA grants for pedagogical research
• Editorial leadership in The Literary Encyclopaedia
• Co-founder of Black British Women Writers Network

Key Contributions: She is currently co-editing a special issue of Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature on Black British Women’s Writing (2022) and has co-edited multiple academic volumes including African Literature Today (2016) and Emerging Perspectives on Yvonne Vera (2012).