Professor Anna Kiernan

I am Associate Professor of Creativity and Literary Culture at the University of Exeter. My research, policy and public engagement work mainly focuses on contemporary literary culture and its relationship to creativity, community, place and cultural policy.

My work explores literary media, reading cultures and literary placemaking, with a particular interest in how literary and cultural infrastructures shape participation, cultural value and belonging. I am especially interested in the ways literature connects people to places, landscapes and communities, and in the role of reading and writing within wider cultural and civic life. In 2026, my evidence was selected by the Parliamentary Committee inquiry into Reading for Pleasure, contributing to national debates on reading culture, literacy and participation.

I was selected as an industry champion for the Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC), funded by UKRI/AHRC and led by Newcastle University in partnership with the Royal Society of Arts, recognising my contributions to policy engagement and evidence-making for the creative and cultural sectors. Alongside my academic work, I have served as a National Advisor to the Arts Council of Wales, as a Director and Trustee of the Cornwall Film Festival, and as an external examiner and advisor for universities across the UK.

Alongside my research and teaching, I have held a range of leadership, governance and advisory roles across higher education and the cultural sector. At the University of Exeter, I lead the university-wide Greener, Fairer, Healthier Learning and Teaching Community of Practice and previously served as an elected member of the University Senate. Earlier in my career, I worked in publishing, arts journalism and creative consultancy, experiences that continue to inform my work on literary culture, cultural participation, public engagement and policy.

I am the author of Writing Cultures and Literary Media: Publishing and Reception in the Digital Age (Palgrave, 2021), which examines the transformation of literary culture in the digital era. I also co-direct The Literary Platform, a publishing platform and creative lab exploring the future of books, storytelling and literary innovation.  In 2023, I co-founded Circe, a creative leadership network connecting cultural leaders across the South West and Wales and in 2025 I founded The Experiential Story Lab at the University of Exeter.

My current research includes literary placemaking and environmental humanities through a study of literary rivers and ruins, alongside a new book project: Unmade: Creativity in an Age of Distraction, which explores how contemporary culture is increasingly organised around the removal of friction from experience, and how this reshapes thought, feeling and creative practice.