Heather Heckman-McKenna
PhD, University of Missouri, English, 2023
MA, Simons University, English, 2016
BFA, Emerson College, Writing, Literature, Editing, Publishing, 2005
Areas of Study
- British Literature
- American Literature
- Women's and Gender Studies
- Creative Writing (multi genre)
- Feminist Studies
- Composition and Rhetoric
- Film
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Heather Heckman-McKenna holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Missouri and is currently an Instructor of English. Her research primarily surrounds eighteenth-century women’s literature, the subversive body, and digital humanities, and she is also a memoirist and creative nonfiction writer. Heather’s scholarly work has appeared in the Revue d’études benthamiennes [Review of Benthamian Studies], Jackson Bibliography of Romantic Poetry, Aphra Behn Online, The Explicator, and elsewhere and her creative work has appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, CutBank, and The Journal, amongst others. Heather’s current projects include a forthcoming book chapter titled “The Subversive Body in Charlotte Smith’s Emmeline,” in Virtue Reconsider’d: Reassessing the Role of Married Women in England during the Long Eighteenth Century (expected 2025), a forthcoming book chapter titled “‘Ye Nae Ne Weep For Me’: What We Can Learn About Reproductive Autonomy From Traditional and Revival Ballads,” in Undue Burdens: Reproductive Rights and Bodily Autonomy in the Long Eighteenth Century (expected 2025), a chapbook memoir on grief, and two women’s literature digital humanities projects. She also holds an Associate Editor position at The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation.
Awards and Honors:
Scholarly Awards
International:
2022 Gale-ASECS Non-Residential Fellowship
University of Missouri Graduate School:
2022 Mary Elizabeth Gutermuth Award for Community Engagement
2020 John D. Bies International Travel Award, 2020-2021
2020 Dissertation Research Travel Scholarship, 2020-2021
University of Missouri English Department:
2022 English Department Fellowship, 2022
2021 Harry J. and Richard A. Hocks Dissertation Fellowship, 2021-2022
2021 Mary-Joe Purcell Fellowship, 2021-2022
2020 English Dissertation Year Fellowship, 2020-2021
2020 Donald E. and Mary Frances Hayden English Fellowship, 2020-2021
2020 The Judith A. and Richard B. Schwartz Award, 2020-2021
2019 Mary-Joe Purcell Fellowship, 2019-2020
2019 Elizabeth T. Barnes Memorial Graduate Fellowship, 2019-2020
2019 Graduate Student Best Paper Award, 1st Place, 2019
2018 Mary-Joe Purcell Fellowship, 2018-2019
2018 Graduate Student Best Paper Award, 2nd Place, 2018
2017 Elizabeth T. Barnes Memorial Graduate Fellowship, 2017-2018
2016 Donald E. and Mary Frances Hayden English Fellowship, 2016-2017
Creative Awards:
National:
2019 Pushcart Prize nomination for “Tilt,” December 2019
2018 Pushcart Prize nomination by Contributing Editor Joseph Hurka, December 2018
2018 “Drive” selected as a “Memoir Magazine Notable Essay,” April 2018
Publications:
Refereed Journal Articles:
2024 “Irregular Sexuality: or, The Story of a Girl in Three Parts.” Revue d’études benthamiennes [Review of Benthamian Studies]. Vol 25 (2024).
2019 Heringman, Noah and Heather Heckman-McKenna. “Commentary for Plate 1.57, Engraving of a Hypocaust Found at Lincoln.” Vetusta Monumenta. 12 June 2019.
2016 “Redefining Love in Atwood’s ‘Variation on the Word Sleep.’” The Explicator, vol. 74, no. 2, 2016, pp. 92-98.
Book Reviews:
2022 Book Review for Placing Charlotte Smith in Aphra Behn Online, Winter 2022-23.
Refereed Headnotes:
2022 Biography for Mary Julia Young, Jackson Bibliography of Romantic Poetry, 28 March 2022.
Literary Journal Publications:
Creative Nonfiction:
2022 “April 18th 2012; Echoes.” Past Ten, 18 April 2022.
2021 “Fall.” The Carolina Quarterly, 71.1, 2021.
2021 “Chroma.” The Journal, 44.3, 2021.
2019 “Tilt.” CutBank, 90, 2019.
2018 “Target.” Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, 26 June 2018, web.
2018 “Drive.” Newfound, vol. 9, no. 1, 2018.
2016 “Securely Bound.” Bacopa Literary Review, vol. 8, no. 1, 2016, pp. 158-162.
2014 “Bus Ride.” Eckleburg, May 2014, web.
Fiction:
2016 “Second Memory.” Inwood Indiana: Reaping, vol. 10, no. 1, 2016, p. 118.