Katie Barnes is a PhD candidate at the University of Salford researching representations of Irish motherhood and maternity in contemporary Irish literature. She is particularly interested in depicting the physical maternal body in contemporary Irish literature and representations of reproductive choice in post-Repeal writing. Her research interests also include representations of alternative motherhood and challenges to traditional ideas of motherhood in Ireland and within the diaspora. She sits on the British Association for Irish Studies council and is an Academic Tutor for the Schools Outreach and English Literature Workshops, part of South African Modernism: 1880-2020.