I grew up near the sea in south County Dublin, Ireland, and went to school there, doing my Leaving Certificate at the tender age of 16. I spent a few years travelling across ‘the Continent’ (i.e. Europe), taking on a variety of jobs—from au pair and chambermaid to trade show hostess, typist, and packing records into sleeves at an LP record factory—learning a great deal along the way. I went on to study English, German and Spanish at University College Dublin graduating with a B.A. (hons) in 1980.
Having successfully studied German to B.A. level despite not having taken it at school, I was eager to live in Germany for a few years and pursue an M.A., which I completed at the Freie Universität Berlin in 1984. Dietmar Rösler and I had got married one year earlier. What began as a short stay evolved into a lifetime, leading to a career as an author of bilingual children’s books and academic.
Next steps after the MA:
| 1985-1987 | Researcher in a project on the image of Germany in British children’s fiction at the Department of German, Freie Universität Berlin |
| 1987 | Awarded PhD (on German literature) by the Freie Universität Berlin |
| 1990-1997 | Assistant Professor of German and Comparative Children’s Literature at the Institute for Children’s Literature Research, Goethe Universität Frankfurt |
| 1999 | Completed my Habilitation (on comparative literature) at the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt (A “Habilitation” is the highest German academic qualification for a professorship – attained by a postdoctoral thesis) |
| 2000-2001 | Visiting Professor of German Literature, Media and Didactics at Essen University |
| 2001-2004 | Associate Professor of German and Comparative Children’s Literature at the Institute for Children’s Literature Research (Institut für Jugendbuchforschung) at the Goethe Universität Frankfurt |
| 2004-2025 | Professor of English Literature at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg |
Those 40 years saw a wide variety of academic service on local, national and international fronts on various boards and committees, and public bodies and juries. And I was the proud recipient of many honours and awards.
In 2025, I retired. Happily (hopefully?), that didn’t mean I had to stop …