Dr. Helen Young is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University, Australia, teaching literary theory, fantasy and historical fiction, and President of the Australia and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. Helen completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons I)/Bachelor of Creative Arts (Distinction) at the University of Wollongong, Australia, in 2022, and a PhD on postcolonialism and Middle English romance at the University of Sydney, Australia, in 2007. After working in nursing and education research and teaching communications for four years, Helen was awarded a Discovery Early Career Research Award by the Australian Research Council, undertaken at the University of Sydney (2012-2015). Helen then worked as a consultant and in research administration before joining Deakin University as a Lecturer in Literary Studies in 2018.
Medievalism, histories of race and racism, and the fantasy genre are Helen’s current main areas of research; with three research monographs: Constructing "England" in the Fourteenth Century: A Postcolonial Interpretation of Middle English Romance (Edwin Mellen, 2010); Race and Popular Fantasy Literature: Habits of Whiteness (Routledge, 2015); and, coauthored with Dr. Kavita Mudan Finn Global Medievalism: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Helen has also published recently in journals including Studies in Medievalism, postmedieval, Literature Compass, English Language Notes and Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies. Helen is coeditor of the book series New Directions in Medieval Studies (Bloomsbury) and of the Journal of Historical Fictions, and a member of the editorial board of the book series Perspectives on Fantasy (Bloomsbury). With a strong interest in participating in public debate, Helen has written for and been interviewed and quoted in Australian and international media including The Conversation, newsy.com, The Guardian, and NBC News.