Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Tara's research uses Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory to analyse and explore the working-class experience in Northern Ireland. As part of this, she is writing a novel that examines the experience of social mobility in the North, and a critical examination of novels by Northern Irish writers of working-class origin.
Achievements
She is the author of novels Fodder (Blackstaff Press 2002) and Poets Are Eaten as a Delicacy in Japan (Liberties Press, 2014) and has short stories published in The Glass Shore (New Island Press, 2016) and Female Lines (New Island Press, 2017).
Her memoir of depression and recovery, The Upside of Down, is published by Dalzell Press and is available from No Alibis, The Secret Bookshelf and Amazon.
Recent publications and broadcasts include:
BBC Radio 4 Short Works short story commission and Radio 4 podcast Drama of the Week 'Joan Loves Ice Cream'
Irish Times article 'Working-class Protestants...'
BBC Radio 4 Short Works short story commission 'You Forgot Me First'.
She was selected for the BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices and developed a TV series with their support.
She won an RTÉ Storyland commission for her first drama ‘The Good Christian Women’s Writing Group’ for which she was nominated for the Edinburgh International TV Festival's Debut Writer Award.
She has an MA in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast.
Teaching
Tara teaches on the MA English (Creative Writing) and the BA English with Creative Writing.
She is based at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics where Tara West is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
- 1 Similar Profiles
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Defying a working-class Protestant myth
West, T., 14 Sept 2023, The Irish Times.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
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The upside of down: a memoir of depression and recovery
West, T., 27 Sept 2020, Dalzell Press. 197 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Winning on points
West, T., 01 Oct 2017, Female lines: new writing by Women from Northern Ireland. Anderson, L. & Sherrat-Bado, D. M. (eds.). New IslandResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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The speaking and the dead
West, T., 08 Oct 2016, The glass shore: short stories by women writers from the North of Ireland. Gleeson, S. (ed.). New IslandResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Activities
- 1 Participation in Festival/Exhibition
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Look North! North Belfast Festival
Patterson, G. (Participant) & West, T. (Participant)
24 Feb 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in Festival/Exhibition
Thesis
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Creative thesis: Inventionland & Critical thesis: Social mobility and the experience of ‘habitus clivé’ in two novels by Northern Irish writers of working-class origin
West, T. (Author), Lehner, S. (Supervisor) & Patterson, G. (Supervisor), Jul 2024Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy