Dr. KA Laity

Doctor Kathryn ‘arpo Laity was born in Lansing, Michigan, of Finnish stock, something which has informed her life and work since. She holds a doctorate from the University of Connecticut, and is a full-time professor of English literature, creative writing and film at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, where she has been a member of the faculty since 2006. She specializes in medieval literature and culture, including the Vikings and interpretations of medieval culture and literature in popular culture, film, creative writing, new media, comics and social media, and also serves as director of the Women's and Gender Studies Programme. She is currently living in Ireland, however, having been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, and she will be teaching a seminar on the romanticism and realities of the writer's life in the digital age at NUI Galway in the 2011-2 academic year.

She has written the novel Pelzmantel (Spilled Candy Books, Florida, 2003), which incorporates ancient Irish and Scandinavian mythology, and the short story collection Unikirja (Aino Press, New York, 2009), a collection of short stories based on the Kalevala, Kanteletar, and other Finnish myths and legends. An expanded edition of Pelzmantel is now available from Immanion Press, who will also be publishing her new novel, Owl Stretching, in 2012. Kate has also written a large number of essays and papers on subjects like medieval studies, fantasy, horror, comics, humour, drama, film and writing (if you don’t believe me, go look at this. She is particularly interested in the work of comics’ writer Alan Moore, as indeed is our Chairman, Pádraig Ó Méaloid. Under the name Kit Marlowe she has written The Mangrove Legacy (Tease Publishing, 2010) and The Big Splash (Noble Romance, 2010), which are humorous historical romance novels.

Besides all of these, she writes a regular column for the Bitchbuzz website, where she covers technology, social media, style, books, film and humour, has a blog at Wombat's World, and is regularly to be found holding forth on both Facebook and Twitter.

In common with many of the other guests at this year’s convention, Kate is not short of opinions, nor afraid to share them, and we very much look forward to welcoming her.

Bio by Anne M Kletcha