Helen J Burgess

Helen J. Burgess is a Professor of English and Director of the Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media PhD Program at North Carolina State University. She holds a BA(Hons) and MA(Dist.) from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) and a PhD from West Virginia University. Her work bridges digital rhetorics, electronic literature, critical making, and feminist crafting. She has previously taught at Washington State University-Vancouver and UMBC.

Her research explores digital humanities, electronic literature, and multimedia development. Notable publications include Biofutures: Owning Body Parts and Information (2008), Red Planet: Scientific and Cultural Encounters with Mars (2000), and co-editing The Routledge Research Companion to Digital Medieval Literature (2017). She edits Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures and contributes to Rhizomes and thresholds journals.

Burgess’s creative projects include installations like Imaginal Pockets (2025) and Intimate Fields (2018). Her current work focuses on a book about silkworms, blending biological inquiry with digital media practices. She advocates for interdisciplinary approaches to new media and critical code studies.