Biography

Holly Eva Allen is a teaching assistant here at the University of Rhode Island. She holds an M.A. in English with a concentration in American Studies from Claremont Graduate University, as well as graduate certificates in Andragogy and Women’s and Gender Studies. Holly’s undergraduate degrees in English and Linguistics were awarded by the University of California, Davis. During her M.A. studies, Holly acted as a research fellow and instructor for the Preparing Future Faculty program where she focused on accessible andragogy.

Holly’s research interests include American Studies, Queer Theory, gender, Modernism, sociolinguistics, and Disability/ Mad Studies. Some of Holly’s analyses include questions of narrative representations of regionalism, identity, and community, as evidenced by her article “I Just Want to Talk Like Everybody Else: Wright Talk and Linguistic Analysis of Seminal Black Fiction” in issue 14 of Journal of Ethnic American Literature. Additionally, Holly’s interest in Modernism occasionally overlaps with the late Gothic and science fiction. In 2024, Holly was awarded the Pick and Laudati Special Collections Fellowship from NIU to study original publications of works by H. P. Lovecraft and her article on Queer Theory and “The Thing on the Doorstep” by H. P. Lovecraft was published in the 2024 issue of Lovecraft Annual.

Outside of teaching and research, Holly also enjoys writing creatively and has acted as an editor for journals such as Passengers Journal and Ocean State Review. In her free time, she also enjoys visiting fine art museums and playing various tabletop games.