Dr Kerrie Davies | UNSW Research

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Creative and professional writing, Australian history, Journalism studies

Biography

Program Director, Masters of Journalism and Communication and PR & Advertising 2021-2024
Convenor and creator of immersive media subjects (UG and PG) and first year journalism incorporating audio and blogging.

Research: new forms of life writing and creative non fiction, and their intersection with new media such as social and virtual reality.

Creative and Scholarly Research Practice:
I am the author of the speculative biography Miles...view more

Research: new forms of life writing and creative non fiction, and their intersection with new media such as social and virtual reality.

Creative and Scholarly Research Practice:
I am the author of the speculative biography Miles Franklin Undercover, published by Allen and Unwin (2025) and the experimental hybrid auto / biography A Wife's Heart (2017), reviewed nationally as 'groundbreaking' .My research has been published in peer reviewed journals such as Life Writing, Literary Journalism Studies, the Australian Journalism Review, and more widely in the Conversation, as well as forthcoming book chapters on creative writing.
My research has attracted national media impact, and I have appeared at the Sydney Writers' Festival; the Brisbane Writers Festival and the National Folk Festival.
I currently supervise thesis projects in literary journalism / creative non fiction and life writing (biography, memoir)..
My teaching and research is underpinned by over a decade's professional practice in national media publications including the Weekend Australian and Vogue Australia.

My Qualifications

D.ARTS (Literary Journalism)

My Awards

Dean's Award for Creativity, 2024.

Visiting Fellow, State Library of NSW, 2024.

My Research Activities

Books

Davies, K. 2025. Miles Franklin Undercover. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Davies, K. 2017. A Wife's Heart. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press.

Book Chapters

Davies, K.M (2026). 'Write what you know: removing acculturation stress and teaching creative non-fiction' In L. McCormack Evolving Strategies for Writing Feedback on Creative Manuscripts: Multi-Genre Pedagogy Guide Abingdon: Routledge.

Davies, K.M (2026).Urban Literary Journalism as a Model for Mobility Justice Studies of Temporary Migration’. In R. Maguire and W. Dow, Urban Literary Journalism. Abingdon: Routledge.

Davies, K & McDonald, M. (2023). Female “Vagabond” or Stunt Reporter? The Undercover Literary Journalism of Australian Colonial Journalist Catherine Hay Thomson. J.Bak & B.Reynolds (Eds). The. Routledge Companion to World Literary Journalism. Routledge.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Davies, K.. 2022. Crowd Coaxing and Citizen Storytelling in Archives of Crisis, Life Writing. online first.

Davies, K. 2021 Aunt Becky Goes Rogue: De-Celebrification and de-mothering in the college cheating scandal, Operation Varsity Blues. Celebrity Studies. online first.

Davies, K. 2019. The flâneur as a motif of timelessness in auto / biography. Text. online first.

Other publications and book reviews

Davies, K (2025, July 18 ) ‘Bonnets, speech bubbles and ‘cheeky easter eggs’: a graphic biography of Jane Austen is subtly sophisticated’. The Conversation.

Davies, K (2025, March 14 Miles Franklin’s other brilliant career: as an undercover servant. The Conversation.

Davies, K (2024, September 30) Artists, social climbers and mermaids: 10 Australian women who followed their dreams to the US in the early 20th century. The Conversation.

Davies, K. 2023, 23 June). 'The problem is that my success gets in his way': The fraught terrain of literary marriages. The Conversation.

Davies, K. (2022, April 14).'"Weaponised Irony": after fictionalising Elizabeth Macarthur's life, Kate Grenville edits her letters.' The Conversation.

Davies K. (2021, February 12). Book Review: ‘Foiled Expectations’. Inside Story.Davies, K. (2021, October 26). ‘What makes a good literary hoax? A political point, for starters’. The Conversation.

Davies, K (2021, October 20). ‘Home Truths Review: Is David Williamson a reformed “Bad Art Friend”? ‘The Conversation.

Davies, K. 2020. Hidden women of history: Catherine Hay Thomson, the Australian undercover journalist who went inside asylums and hospitals. 17 January. The Conversation.

Davies, K. (2019). Book Review: ‘Hearing Maud’. Southerly. 79 (1), 210-213.

Davies, K. (2017). Book Review: ‘Talking to My Country’. Ethical Space. 14 (4),47

My Research Supervision

Supervision keywords

journalism

biography & autobiography

historiography

Areas of supervision

I am available for supervision in the areas of creative non fiction / literary journalism; autobiography, biography and other life writing in text and new media forms.
I currently teach Virtual Reality Documentaries (MDIA 2013), Feature Writing (MDIA 5006) and News Fundamentals (MDIA 1004).

Currently supervising

PhD Creative Practice (Life writing)

Cathy Perkins: Three Scarlet Women: The Lives of Betty Roland, Catherine Duncan and Oriel Gray.

My Engagement

Miles Franklin Undercover:

nvitations Industry Engagement - Netflix.

Netflix / Jungle Entertainment- invited me to the set of the 'reimagined' My Brilliant Career, South Australian Film Commission Studios. Informal consultation - but I was invited - meeting with Exec Producer, script writers and lead actor Phillipa Northeast, who is playing Sybylla. Released 2026.

https://www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/film-tv/2025/06/19/netflix-greenlights-locally-made-my-brilliant-career-series

International release of book -November Uk / United States.

EVENTS (festivals, libraries, bookshops)

Balmain Library, Author Talk, 12 March 2025.
Words on Wagstaff, festival event: 15 March, 2025
In Conversation with Prof.Brigitta Olubas, Gleebooks, 27 March 2025.
Manly Writers Festival, Manly 28 March, 2025.
North Sydney Writers @Stanton (Library), 3 April, 2025.
Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Ignite Studios, 5 April, 2025.
Miles Franklin's Forgotten Years, East Maitland Library, 2 May 2025.
Sydney Writers Festival, Vanishing Histories with Yves Rees and Susan Wyndham, @State Library of NSW (Festival venue), 21 May, 2025 (UNSW Sponsor)
Sydney Writers Festival, Curiosity Lecture, 22 May 2025, Carriageworks (UNSW Sponsor)
Goulburn Library, Author Talk, 25 May 2025
Writers @ the Woolshed, Moss Vale, 12 July 2025
ANU Centre of Biography, ANU Harry Hartog, Canberra, 14 July, 2025.Ballina Library Seniors Circle and Ballina Probus (a favour to my mum!)
SAM Literary Provocations Talk - August 27 .

Media Interviews and Podcasts

ABC Radio National Conversations, https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/miles-franklin-gonzo-journalism-undercover-maid-brilliant-career/105139212
UNSW ADA Novel Thinking, in conversation with A/Prof Fiona Morrison

https://www.inside.unsw.edu.au/campus-life/adas-new-podcast-series-book-lovers

Biographers in Conversation

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/biographers-in-conversation/id1733592433

Media Interviews

ABC Riverina 24 March
ABC Melbourne, 31 March ABC Melbourne 3.45pm
2SER , Breakfasts 11 April , 8.30am
Daily Telegraph, (Mercedes Maguire), published 15 March 2025 {print only but pic here) http://instagram.com/p/DHNC5-4TGFP/

My Teaching

I currently teach Multiplatform Journalism, News Fundamentals and Masters Online Publication Practice.

I'm available to supervise across literary journalism / creative non fiction, life writing such as memoir and biography, and other forms of creative writing.

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