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About
Dr. Helen Palmer is a writer and theorist from Blackpool. Palmer is the author of the novel Pleasure Beach (Prototype, 2023), the theoretical monograph Queer Defamiliarisation: Writing, Mattering, Making Strange (Edinburgh University Press, 2020), and the theoretical monograph Deleuze and Futurism: A Manifesto for Nonsense (Bloomsbury, 2014).
Pleasure Beach was recorded as an audiobook in 2024 and translated into Spanish in 2025.
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Works
Books
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2025
Playa Placer
Spanish translation of Pleasure Beach by Lara Alonso Corona · Cielo Santo, Barcelona
View at publisher – Playa Placer -
2023
Pleasure Beach
Novel · Prototype. Also available as an audiobook (Spiracle).
Buy the book – Pleasure Beach, at Prototype -
2020
Queer Defamiliarisation: Writing, Mattering, Making Strange
Theoretical monograph · Edinburgh University Press
View at publisher – Queer Defamiliarisation -
2014
Deleuze and Futurism: A Manifesto for Nonsense
Theoretical monograph · Bloomsbury
View at publisher – Deleuze and Futurism
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Download full CV (PDF, September 2026)
CV
Curriculum vitae
Dr Helen Palmer, writer and theorist.
Education
- 2012PhD, “A Manifesto for Nonsense: The Futurist Drive in Deleuze’s Poetics”
- 2007MA, Contemporary Approaches to English Studies (Distinction), Goldsmiths, University of London
- 2006MA (Hons), English (First Class), University of Glasgow
Academic career
- 2024–presentSenior Research Associate, Artistic Research in Literary Studies, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf
- 2023–2024Tutor, Writing at Doctoral Level, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
- 2020–2022Senior Scientist, Architecture Theory and Philosophy of Technics, TU Wien
- 2020–2022Senior Lecturer, Chair for Digital Architectonics, ETH Zürich
- 2015–2020Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing, Kingston University London
- 2009–2015Lecturer in English and Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths, University of London
Residencies, grants and prizes
- 2027Interdisciplinary Residency, Bundanon Art Museum, NSW, Australia
- 2025Interdisciplinary Residency, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Virginia, USA
- 2023Interdisciplinary Residency, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Virginia, USA
- 2023Arts Council England funding for Prototype Publishing’s promotion of Pleasure Beach
- 2017Visiting Scholar, Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney
- 2006Bradley Medal for the most distinguished candidate in English Literature, University of Glasgow
Selected articles and chapters
- 2027Forthcoming: “The Work of Speculative Gardening in the Age of Sloppy Propagation”, in Feminist Literacies: Enfleshing Material Texts (Edinburgh University Press)
- 2025“Marine Lover, Machine Lover, Endocrine Lover”, Angelaki · DOI
- 2023“A Queer Reimagining of James Joyce’s Ulysses in Northern England”, Literary Hub · Read
- 2023“The light of which it speaks: creativity, modality, perception”, Minnesota Review · Read
- 2022“Defamiliarisation”, in More Posthuman Glossary (Bloomsbury)
- 2021“Synaesthesia”, Matter: Journal of New Materialist Research · DOI
- 2020“Speculative Taxonomies”, Philosophy Today · DOI
Editing and editorial roles
- 2025Editor, The Sea: A Literary-Philosophical Immersion, special issue of Angelaki · Read
- 2019Co-editor, Feminist New Materialist Practice, special issue of MAI Journal of Feminism and Visual Culture
- 2019–presentSection editor, Language and Literature, Matter: a new materialist journal
- 2018–presentContributing editor, Angelaki: journal of the theoretical humanities
Interviews and podcasts
Selected talks and workshops
- June 2026Keynote, 13th International Feminist New Materialisms Conference, University of Granada
- April 2026Queer Writing Workshop, The Reader Berlin, Lettrétage, Berlin
- Feb 2026KAP1, Lost and Found Exhibition Launch, Düsseldorf
- Nov 2025Creative Writing as Artistic Research, Jagiellonian University, Poland
- Aug 2024Reading from Pleasure Beach, Edinburgh Book Festival
- 2024It comes in Waves: Pleasure Writing Workshops, Kunsthalle Vienna
- 2023Pleasure Beach launch tour: Blackpool, London, Edinburgh, York, Glasgow, Vienna
Selected readings
- Oct 2026Reading with Elena Castro, Central del Raval, Barcelona
- Oct 2026Reading with translator Lara Alonso Corona, Madrid
- Sept 2026Julia Frank exhibition opening Hot Lesbians, Last Little Haven, Vienna
- June 2026Reading with Judith Vives, Librería Rayuela, Málaga
- June 2025Blackpool in Bloom: Bloomsday reading, International English Library, Düsseldorf
Performance and supervision
- 2014–presentWith Vikki Chalklin, performer in Le Tomatique, a queer avant-garde clowning duo
- 2018–2026PhD supervision, Kingston University London; awarded with no corrections
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Contact
Helen Palmer
Literary agent
Jennifer Bernstein
The Wylie Agency
jbernstein@wylieagency.co.uk