Personal profile
Biography
Merril Howie is a Sessional Academic in the School of Humanities, Discipline of Literature and Creative Writing, at Macquarie University. Drawing the sciences into dialogue with literary studies, her transdisciplinary analyses of autobiographical texts tease out significant interrelationships among narrative techniques and the cognitive processes they trigger in the reader—focusing particularly on the representation and impact of memory and emotion. Merril was awarded a 12-month MQ CRFS Research Fellowship in 2022) for her project, “Cognitive Literary Considerations of Memory in Life Writing: Imagination, Time, Space and Scaffolds”, with the aim of demonstrating how skilfully written autobiographical texts can significantly influence readers’ memory systems, re-shaping perceptions and interpretations of particular recollections, and thereby impacting personal and collective identities.
Merril completed a Bachelor of Arts (English) (2015), a Master of Research (2018) and a Doctor of Philosophy (2021) at Macquarie University. Her PhD identified and analysed specific textual and cognitive elements that combine to create affectively charged, autobiographical engagements with the life writing texts of Hilary Mantel, Janet Frame, Helen Garner and Joan Didion. The aim of this cognitive literary study was to provide a nuanced, transdisciplinary account of the influential dynamics of literary life writing, specifically in terms of how memoirists’ emotive recollections draw readers into affective reading engagements via reciprocal involvements with their own personal memories and emotions.
Teaching
Academic Tutor, ENGL120 - Approaches to English Lit (S1, 2019)
Academic Tutor, ENGL1050 - Grammar and Writing (S3, 2023-2024)
Academic Tutor, ENGL1050 - Grammar and Writing (S1, 2024)
Academic Tutor, ENGL1050 - Grammar and Writing (S3, 2024-2025)
Academic Tutor, ENGL1050 - Grammar and Writing (S1, 2026)
Academic Marker, MMCC8043 - Writing the Real (S1, 2021)
Academic Marker, ENGL3040 - Following Poetry from Epic to Instagram (S2, 2022)
Academic Marker, ENGL1050 - Grammar and Writing (S1, 2025)
Academic Marker, ENGL1001 - Literature: Medieval to Modern (S1, 2025)
Academic Marker, ENGL8017 - Writing the Past, Building New Worlds (S2, 2025)
Education/Academic qualification
English, PhD, Memory, Emotion and Empathy in Literary Memoirs in English (Awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Commendation for Academic Excellence), Macquarie University
2018 → 2021
Award Date: 24 Jun 2021
English, Master of Research, "The Power of the Literary Image: Mediating Memory and Managing Emotion in the Literary Memoirs of Virginia Woolf and Helen Garner" (Awarded the University Medal for English), Macquarie University
2015 → 2017
Award Date: 20 Apr 2018
English, Bachelor of Arts, (Awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Commendation for Academic Excellence), Macquarie University
Award Date: 8 Apr 2015
Fingerprint
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Materiality, cognition, agency and vitality: inter-relational exchanges with non-human forms in Vicki Hastrich's Night Fishing
Howie, M., 2026, In: Text (Australia). 30, Special Issue 76, p. 1-19 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
The shaping of memory in Hilary Mantel's personal narration: the benefits of a dialogic approach between memoir and paratext
Howie, M., 3 Sept 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Topoi. 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Reflecting on memory, imagination and place: reading Janet Frame's The Envoy from Mirror City through a cognitive literary lens
Howie, M., 2024, In: Life Writing. 21, 2, p. 233-254 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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The Photographer as Autobiographer
Howie, M., 2024, In: Life Writing. 21, 3, p. 619-622 4 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article/Exhibition review
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Time and memory in the Twilight Zone: cognitive literary perspectives on Joan Didion's Blue Nights
Howie, M., 2024, In: a/b: Auto/Biography Studies. 39, 1, p. 155-184 30 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Prizes
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Topoi (Journal)
Howie, M. (Reviewer)
2025 → …Activity: Peer-review and editorial of research outputs › Editorial work
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Narrating the 'New Normal' of Unexpected Loss: Memory, Voice, Embodiment and Rhythm in Joan Didion's Life-Writing
Howie, M. (Speaker)
26 Sept 2023 → 28 Sept 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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a/b: Auto/Biography Studies (Journal)
Howie, M. (Reviewer)
2023Activity: Peer-review and editorial of research outputs › Editorial work
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Memory and Emotion in Life-Writing: Cognitive Literary Perspectives
Howie, M. (Speaker)
16 Feb 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Life Writing (Journal)
Howie, M. (Reviewer)
2022Activity: Peer-review and editorial of research outputs › Editorial work