Bio:
Kirsten recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Brigham Young University. Though her studies spanned the British literary canon, Woolf’s writing repeatedly surfaced in her research projects and papers. Her thesis investigates the connection between Woolf’s obsessive memories of her mother, which she psychoanalyzed in the process of writing To the Lighthouse (1927), and Woolf’s depiction of Mrs. Ramsay as a mediator of time and memory. She published a short comparative study on Woolf and Witi Ihimaera in Criterion and presented a paper on The Waves (1931) as an ecological narrative of urban declension. In tandem with BYU professors, Kirsten is currently engaged in forthcoming projects on maternal ecocriticism and reflection theory. This fall, Kirsten will start teaching writing courses for BYU as an adjunct faculty member. She plans to pursue a doctoral degree in the near future.
Statement of Interest:
After my first undergraduate course on Virginia Woolf, taught by Jarica Watts, I was hooked. For me, there is a haunted elegance to Woolf’s words that makes studying her work feel like diving into a sacred depth. Thanks to Watts’s expertise and invitation, I’ve spent the last several years under her guidance, getting to know Woolf and the modernist era.
The most recent gathering at Fresno State was my first experience at a Woolf conference, and admittedly, I was a little star-struck to put faces to the many names I have cited in my research on Woolf. But it was the generosity, interest, and kindness I encountered in those meetings that gave me the courage to put my name forward as an officer candidate.
As an officer, my hope is to spread the same acceptance and warmth I experienced in Fresno with other emerging and established scholars and to make membership in the IVWS as seamless as possible. Though I am a new scholar with much to learn, there seems to be no better way to continue my development and satisfy my interest in Woolf studies than to fully invest in the pack. I look forward to learning from and serving with the capable officers of the IVWS—and to attending many more Woolf conferences with you.
IVWS 