Hello! I am an academic and writer, from Aotearoa New Zealand.
I was born in Ōtepoti Dunedin. I am Pākehā/tauiwi (New Zealand European; of settler heritage), living in the region of Kai Tahu as Tangata Tiriti.
I am a mother to two small children, and we are lucky enough to live by the Otago harbour, in a big garden with a beehive and lots of visiting birds.
While life is very full with work and writing, I also enjoy gardening, and dabbling in various forms of visual art and craft.
Academic fields
My academic fields are social anthropology and communication studies. I study sociocultural aspects of health and wellbeing, care and emotion, and digital worlds. I also teach courses on religion and spirituality, death and grief, and cultural politics.
You can read my University of Otago academic profile here, and read about my current main research project, on medical crowdfunding, here. Many of my academic writing outputs are also linked on this site.
Creative writing
My poetry, micro fiction, and creative nonfiction has been published in a variety of journals and anthologies, and been recognised in several national and international awards.
My creative writing dips in and out of personal and academic registers, drawing on themes of embodiment, motherhood, relationship to nature, place and identity, empathy, and human connection.
More details and links on the other pages of this site.
Get in touch
Thank you for visiting, and please feel free to follow my work or getting in touch via the following email and social media links:
Susan Wardell - Writer 