Dr Caroline Wintersgill

I am Senior Lecturer in Publishing Studies at University of Stirling. I teach on the MLitt and MRes degrees in Publishing Studies and on the BA in English Studies. Before coming to Stirling I was Lecturer in Publishing at University College London (UCL) and prior to that an Associate Lecturer in English and American Studies at the University of Winchester.

I came to academia in 2015, following a 25 year career in the publishing industry, during which I worked for ten companies, including Routledge, Bloomsbury, Cassell, Biteback Publishing, UCL Press, Manchester University Press and the US independent Lynne Rienner. I keep my hand in with the publishing industry as an Editorial Board Member of Scottish Universities Press (SUP) and a Trustee of the Books Council of Wales.

My primary research field is contemporary literary and publishing cultures, with a particular interest in small press publishing. My PhD (University of Winchester 2020) is in contemporary literature and my research focused on endings in 21st Century fiction, combining theoretically informed close readings of a range of contemporary novels (by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Naomi Alderman and Kate Atkinson among others) with empirical work among authors, readers and representatives of the literary industry. I have a BA in English Literature from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, an MA in Contemporary Literature from University of Winchester and an MSc in Politics and Sociology from Birkbeck, University of London . I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

In terms of professional service, I have been on the the Executive of The British Association of Contemporary Literary Studies for eight years, currently serving as co-organiser for Conferences and Events including the BACLS-WHN Biennial Conference at Stirling in 2025. I am the Reviews Editor for Logos: Journal of the World Publishing Community.

My primary research field is contemporary literary and publishing cultures. My chapter on the ‘Institutions of Fiction’ was published in The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction: 1980 to the Present, edited by P. Boxall (CUP 2019). I am presently completing a monograph, based on my PhD on endings in contemporary fiction which includes interviews with authors, publishers, literary agents and book groups.

I have recently embarked on a new project on small press publishing in the UK, with a particular interest in small nation and regional presses, and have presented exploratory papers at 'By the Book' in Ljublajana and at the 'Politics of Small Scales' conference in Leuven. I am researching a short book on editing fiction for the Cambridge Elements series in Publishing and Book Cultures.

As a former academic publisher, I have a strong interest in Open Access publishing, and my article ‘Open Access, Open Minds: Who Should be the Academic Gatekeepers?’ was published in The Author (Journal of the Society of Authors) in 2013.

I have also written on material and visual cultures in film, co-authoring a chapter with Savithri Bartlett at the University of Winchester on ‘Empowering the Replicant: Visual and Haptic Narratives in Blade Runner’, for The Erotic Cloth: Seduction and Fetishism in Textiles edited by L. Millar and A. Kettle (Bloomsbury 2018).

I would be delighted to hear from prospective PhD students interested in contemporary literature, publishing studies or the intersection between them.

University of Stirling

Module convenor for:

PUBPP34 Publishing in the Workplace (2022-3, 2023-4, 2026-7) PUBPP30 Publishing, Literature and Society (2025-6) PUBPP33 Skills for Publishing Management (2022-3, 2023-4, 2024-5) PUBPP16 Publishing Dynamics (2023-4, 2024-5) PUBPP05 Dissertation (2022-3, 2023-4)

I also teach/have taught on:

ENGU9A1 Introduction to Literary Studies: Genre ENGU9A2 Introduction to English Studies: Theories and Approaches PUBPP56: Managing Content from Manuscript to Market CRWPP16: Telling True Stories CRWPP18: Research Skills for Writers

UCL

Module convenor for:

Authorship (2019-20, 2020-21) Academic Publishing (2019-20, 2020-21)

I also taught on: Editing, Writing and Communication Dissertation

University of Winchester

Module convenor for:

The City in American Literature (2018-19) American Modernity (2016-17)

I also taught on:

Postmodern Fictions (2016-17)

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