Helen McKenzie
@helenmckenzie.bsky.social
Associate Lecturer at the Open University; Victorianist; researcher on Mary Braddon, periodicals, women's writing; Secretary of @vpfa; dance teacher; and I love sewing.
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT! 🔦 : Milly Harrison. Milly has been a VPFA member since 2021. Her thesis, 'Deviant Cartographies', examines how British Weird fiction allowed late-Victorian authors to explore deviant masculinity.
Harrison recently published in Gothic Studies: www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...
Harrison recently published in Gothic Studies: www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...
December 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT! 🔦 : Milly Harrison. Milly has been a VPFA member since 2021. Her thesis, 'Deviant Cartographies', examines how British Weird fiction allowed late-Victorian authors to explore deviant masculinity.
Harrison recently published in Gothic Studies: www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...
Harrison recently published in Gothic Studies: www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Christopher Columbus! I've written a new blog post for @vpfa.bsky.social, this time on the Christmassiness of Little Women adaptations...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
Christmas Won’t Be Christmas without ‘Little Women’…
A subjective ranking of Christmassiness by Emma Butler-WayIn my years of teaching Little Women in adaptation, the one question I have never asked either myself or my students is: ‘And what about ho…
victorianpopularfiction.org
December 17, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Christopher Columbus! I've written a new blog post for @vpfa.bsky.social, this time on the Christmassiness of Little Women adaptations...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
It was much harder than anticipated. I changed the ranking many times. I began to question everything. I still am...
victorianpopularfiction.org/christmas-wo...
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
This is the first of many Member Spotlights. We want to make this a fortnightly series, where we highlight any achievements of our Members, because YOU are the heart and soul of VPFA. Email vpfamedia@gmail.com with any achievements and a photo of yourself and we will be delighted to share.
November 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
This is the first of many Member Spotlights. We want to make this a fortnightly series, where we highlight any achievements of our Members, because YOU are the heart and soul of VPFA. Email vpfamedia@gmail.com with any achievements and a photo of yourself and we will be delighted to share.
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
New Blog post alert- 'Neo-Victorian Gothtober 2025' by Helena Esser. Some spooky neo-Vic gothic films and tv series recommendations for your Halloween watching pleasure! Read here: victorianpopularfiction.org/neo-victoria...
October 13, 2025 at 3:02 PM
New Blog post alert- 'Neo-Victorian Gothtober 2025' by Helena Esser. Some spooky neo-Vic gothic films and tv series recommendations for your Halloween watching pleasure! Read here: victorianpopularfiction.org/neo-victoria...
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Do you want to start reading Ouida but don't know where to start? Find my handy #Ouida Starter Guide on the official VPFA blog:
@vpfa.bsky.social
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-official...
@vpfa.bsky.social
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-official...
The Official Ouida Starter Guide
As told by Helena Esser So, this Ouida lady.You’ve heard so much, a lot of it from me, if you’ve met me. “I really have to read Ouida!”, you vow, after I’ve tried to conjure the rush and beauty of …
victorianpopularfiction.org
October 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Do you want to start reading Ouida but don't know where to start? Find my handy #Ouida Starter Guide on the official VPFA blog:
@vpfa.bsky.social
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-official...
@vpfa.bsky.social
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-official...
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Submissions for the VPFA First Book Prize are now OPEN! Deadline is 31st December 2025. For full eligibility criteria and submission guidelines, go to: victorianpopularfiction.org/vpfa-book-pr...
October 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Submissions for the VPFA First Book Prize are now OPEN! Deadline is 31st December 2025. For full eligibility criteria and submission guidelines, go to: victorianpopularfiction.org/vpfa-book-pr...
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Sign up to attend the VPFA's Third Sex Reading group's October session on Natasha Pulley's The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, a neo-Victorian novel To sign up this month, please email
vpfareadinggroup@gmail.com with 'FAO: Third Sex No. 43' and ask to be added to the attendees list.
vpfareadinggroup@gmail.com with 'FAO: Third Sex No. 43' and ask to be added to the attendees list.
October 6, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Sign up to attend the VPFA's Third Sex Reading group's October session on Natasha Pulley's The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, a neo-Victorian novel To sign up this month, please email
vpfareadinggroup@gmail.com with 'FAO: Third Sex No. 43' and ask to be added to the attendees list.
vpfareadinggroup@gmail.com with 'FAO: Third Sex No. 43' and ask to be added to the attendees list.
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
🚨Call for Papers!
❓Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities: A VPFA Study Day
🗺️Loughborough University
📅27 March 2026
💷 FREE
For full CfP: victorianpopularfiction.org/studyday/for...
Contact the organiser Anne-Marie Beller (@braddonite.bsky.social) at a.m.beller@lboro.ac.uk for more information
❓Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities: A VPFA Study Day
🗺️Loughborough University
📅27 March 2026
💷 FREE
For full CfP: victorianpopularfiction.org/studyday/for...
Contact the organiser Anne-Marie Beller (@braddonite.bsky.social) at a.m.beller@lboro.ac.uk for more information
October 2, 2025 at 11:03 AM
🚨Call for Papers!
❓Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities: A VPFA Study Day
🗺️Loughborough University
📅27 March 2026
💷 FREE
For full CfP: victorianpopularfiction.org/studyday/for...
Contact the organiser Anne-Marie Beller (@braddonite.bsky.social) at a.m.beller@lboro.ac.uk for more information
❓Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities: A VPFA Study Day
🗺️Loughborough University
📅27 March 2026
💷 FREE
For full CfP: victorianpopularfiction.org/studyday/for...
Contact the organiser Anne-Marie Beller (@braddonite.bsky.social) at a.m.beller@lboro.ac.uk for more information
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Excited to announce that the VPFA blog has launched! Thanks to Emma Butler-Way for her hard work in getting it ready for today, for more information check out the blog at the link below:
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
The VPFA Blog
The VPFA Blog Welcome to the VPFA Blog! Here we will have ponderings, reflections, speculative readings, and more, for the reading pleasure of our fellow Victorianists. If you would like to submit …
victorianpopularfiction.org
October 1, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Excited to announce that the VPFA blog has launched! Thanks to Emma Butler-Way for her hard work in getting it ready for today, for more information check out the blog at the link below:
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Join us for a virtual writing retreat designed for VPFA members! Working on a conference paper, article, thesis, or admin tasks? this structured retreat offers dedicated time, body doubling, and proven productivity techniques inspired by Rowena Murray. Drop in or stay the full day!
September 11, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Join us for a virtual writing retreat designed for VPFA members! Working on a conference paper, article, thesis, or admin tasks? this structured retreat offers dedicated time, body doubling, and proven productivity techniques inspired by Rowena Murray. Drop in or stay the full day!
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
The Editors of Victorian Popular Fictions are looking for guest editors for autumn special issues from 2027 - 2030. Please see the attached CFP. The deadline for proposals is 30th September 2025, and we are very happy to take any queries, please just email us at vpfjournal@gmail.com.
August 8, 2025 at 3:40 PM
The Editors of Victorian Popular Fictions are looking for guest editors for autumn special issues from 2027 - 2030. Please see the attached CFP. The deadline for proposals is 30th September 2025, and we are very happy to take any queries, please just email us at vpfjournal@gmail.com.
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
The 2025 prize is now open! (deadline: 30th September 2025). The prize offers the winning scholar two nights' accommodation (with breakfast and dinner) for up to three days' research at Gladstone's Library. To find out more about eligibility and process: victorianpopularfiction.org/mary-eliza-r...
September 4, 2025 at 9:11 AM
The 2025 prize is now open! (deadline: 30th September 2025). The prize offers the winning scholar two nights' accommodation (with breakfast and dinner) for up to three days' research at Gladstone's Library. To find out more about eligibility and process: victorianpopularfiction.org/mary-eliza-r...
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Read about the projects and experiences of previous Mary Eliza Root prize winners (Anne Chapman, Lin Young, Jon Potter, Asma Char, Adele Guyton, Helen McKenzie, and Joanne Knowles) here: victorianpopularfiction.org/mer-prize-re...
Apply by 30th September for your chance to visit Gladstone's Library
Apply by 30th September for your chance to visit Gladstone's Library
MER Prize Reports (Blog)
Mary Eliza Root Award Reports 2017: Anne Chapman, King’s College London Anne was awarded the prize for her research into ‘Day of Rest: Structuring Sunday’, which explores the ways…
victorianpopularfiction.org
September 4, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Read about the projects and experiences of previous Mary Eliza Root prize winners (Anne Chapman, Lin Young, Jon Potter, Asma Char, Adele Guyton, Helen McKenzie, and Joanne Knowles) here: victorianpopularfiction.org/mer-prize-re...
Apply by 30th September for your chance to visit Gladstone's Library
Apply by 30th September for your chance to visit Gladstone's Library
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Spot the owls for #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay! An 1898 design in Jacquard woven wool by Charles Francis Annesley Voysey, 1857-1841, sold by Liberty's (it was also produced as a wallpaper)
victorianweb.org/art/design/t...
victorianweb.org/art/design/t...
August 4, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Spot the owls for #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay! An 1898 design in Jacquard woven wool by Charles Francis Annesley Voysey, 1857-1841, sold by Liberty's (it was also produced as a wallpaper)
victorianweb.org/art/design/t...
victorianweb.org/art/design/t...
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Hear hear!
It's the @vpfa's deeply rooted refusal of hierarchy in the interest of welcome and joy combined with serious intellectual ambition, isn't it?
It's proof renewed every year that fun and rigour make a great alloy!
It's the @vpfa's deeply rooted refusal of hierarchy in the interest of welcome and joy combined with serious intellectual ambition, isn't it?
It's proof renewed every year that fun and rigour make a great alloy!
Well, #VPFAExtremes has been wonderful - the height of my summer so far, as ever! I am deeply grateful to be part such a fantastic, extremely warm and collegiate association. Thoroughly enjoyed the last few days - diolch pawb!
July 17, 2025 at 5:59 AM
Hear hear!
It's the @vpfa's deeply rooted refusal of hierarchy in the interest of welcome and joy combined with serious intellectual ambition, isn't it?
It's proof renewed every year that fun and rigour make a great alloy!
It's the @vpfa's deeply rooted refusal of hierarchy in the interest of welcome and joy combined with serious intellectual ambition, isn't it?
It's proof renewed every year that fun and rigour make a great alloy!
The last time I was at the @bmi1854.bsky.social was as a kid playing in a music competition with my brother....this week I was back for the @vpfa.bsky.social Annual Conference! It's been absolutely wonderful; thank you to everyone! #VPFAExtremes
July 16, 2025 at 8:18 PM
The last time I was at the @bmi1854.bsky.social was as a kid playing in a music competition with my brother....this week I was back for the @vpfa.bsky.social Annual Conference! It's been absolutely wonderful; thank you to everyone! #VPFAExtremes
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Grill extends the metaphor of the Victorian asylum to include Audley court and reads Lady Audley herself as a character who wields medical agency instead of as a patient/mad person.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Grill extends the metaphor of the Victorian asylum to include Audley court and reads Lady Audley herself as a character who wields medical agency instead of as a patient/mad person.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
HUGE shout out to Keira for handling being the sole speaker like a pro! I certainly enjoyed chairing this panel, even if it was a slightly unconventional one. I'm *always* game for talking about Jane Eyre - this was an absolute pleasure. Thank you Keira for being such a good sport! #VPFAExtremes
Unfortunately, the other presenters on this panel (Kailey Pire and Rida Leonard) have been unable to attend, so we are now having a Brontë-themed chat instead. Currently wondering, why DID Jane marry Rochester?? #VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
HUGE shout out to Keira for handling being the sole speaker like a pro! I certainly enjoyed chairing this panel, even if it was a slightly unconventional one. I'm *always* game for talking about Jane Eyre - this was an absolute pleasure. Thank you Keira for being such a good sport! #VPFAExtremes
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
A great meal with great conference pals! @vpfa.bsky.social #VPFAextremes
July 15, 2025 at 9:12 PM
A great meal with great conference pals! @vpfa.bsky.social #VPFAextremes
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
After talking dinosaurs and nineteenth-century literature at the @vpfa.bsky.social annual conference #VPFAExtremes, we're on to Birmingham Library's nineteenth-century Shakespeare Library, which was surgically inserted into the modern building. Also a summer view from the rooftop garden.
July 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
After talking dinosaurs and nineteenth-century literature at the @vpfa.bsky.social annual conference #VPFAExtremes, we're on to Birmingham Library's nineteenth-century Shakespeare Library, which was surgically inserted into the modern building. Also a summer view from the rooftop garden.
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
I had the best time presenting this paper! It was such a great panel to be on - by a *wild* coincidence, we had two separate papers, featuring two separate books that both just so happened to have a character with the last name of Tempest, and someone accidentally selling their soul...
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Next we’ve got @ebutler-way.bsky.social talking about the legacies of Jane Eyre in A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott, particularly the role of fate #VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I had the best time presenting this paper! It was such a great panel to be on - by a *wild* coincidence, we had two separate papers, featuring two separate books that both just so happened to have a character with the last name of Tempest, and someone accidentally selling their soul...
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
Just chaired an excellent first panel of #VPFAExtremes with fellow #Birkbeck Victorianists @janetteleaf.bsky.social, Jeremy Newton, & Gordon Bates on Hypnotic Gothic Fictions!
July 14, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Just chaired an excellent first panel of #VPFAExtremes with fellow #Birkbeck Victorianists @janetteleaf.bsky.social, Jeremy Newton, & Gordon Bates on Hypnotic Gothic Fictions!
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
We are delighted to welcome the @VPFA1 for day 1 of their 3 day conference "Heights, Depths and Extremes."
#VPFAExtremes #VPFA #bmi1854 #birmingham #victorian
#VPFAExtremes #VPFA #bmi1854 #birmingham #victorian
July 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM
We are delighted to welcome the @VPFA1 for day 1 of their 3 day conference "Heights, Depths and Extremes."
#VPFAExtremes #VPFA #bmi1854 #birmingham #victorian
#VPFAExtremes #VPFA #bmi1854 #birmingham #victorian
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
It's been a lovely 1st day at VPFA 2025! @vpfa.bsky.social #VPFAextremes
July 14, 2025 at 6:39 PM
It's been a lovely 1st day at VPFA 2025! @vpfa.bsky.social #VPFAextremes
Reposted by Helen McKenzie
We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2024 VPFA Second Book Prize:
Tara MacDonald, Narrative, Affect, and Victorian Sensation: Wilful Bodies (Edinburgh University Press, 2023). Prof. MacDonald will receive a £200 cash prize and be honoured at the Annual Conference AGM.
Tara MacDonald, Narrative, Affect, and Victorian Sensation: Wilful Bodies (Edinburgh University Press, 2023). Prof. MacDonald will receive a £200 cash prize and be honoured at the Annual Conference AGM.
July 11, 2025 at 8:54 AM
We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2024 VPFA Second Book Prize:
Tara MacDonald, Narrative, Affect, and Victorian Sensation: Wilful Bodies (Edinburgh University Press, 2023). Prof. MacDonald will receive a £200 cash prize and be honoured at the Annual Conference AGM.
Tara MacDonald, Narrative, Affect, and Victorian Sensation: Wilful Bodies (Edinburgh University Press, 2023). Prof. MacDonald will receive a £200 cash prize and be honoured at the Annual Conference AGM.