Robin Fetherston

Specialization

Academic Writing and Literature

Education

• MFA in Creative Writing: Fiction, Queens University of Charlotte
• MA in English Language and Literature, The College of William and Mary
• BA in Learning Disabilities, Arizona State University, cum laude

Biography

As a faculty member of the Liberal Arts and Sciences program, Robin Fetherston teaches academic writing and literature courses to undergraduate students. In 2008, she became the university’s first recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in Teaching Award, and in 2011, she was recognized as a Qatar Foundation Achiever by Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser. Robin founded the School-Wide Reading Program and coordinated it for fourteen years. Each semester, the program involved all members of the university in a common reading experience and was the first of its kind in Qatar. She also was part of the seminal organizing committee for what was then known as the Education City Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Research Forum and later served as a co-coordinator for four years. During this time the forum offered a conference type platform for faculty members from the various universities in Education City. Although Robin moved on to other areas of service, the organization continues today as the Qatar Faculty Forum, offering an interdisciplinary lecture series. Robin’s research interests include American, Canadian, and British literature from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and she has published her work in a variety of local, national, and international publications. Currently, she focuses on writing short fiction works.

Publications

Selected Publications

1. Fetherston, Robin. “On the Way Out.” International Journal of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies 6, no. 1 (2021): 37-47.

2. Fetherston, Robin. “Driving Somewhere Else.” International Journal of Social Sciences and Disciplinary Studies 5, no. 1 (2020): 43-47.

3. Fetherston, Robin. “Looking for Linen.” International Journal of Social Sciences and Disciplinary Studies 5, no. 1 (2020): 49-53.

4. Fetherston, Robin. “Chains and Release through Memory in Alice Munro's 'Dimensions'.” Humanities and Social Sciences Review 8, no. 1 (2018): 275-280.

5. Fetherston, Robin. “Meeting Dickens in the Arabian Gulf.” In Spin Cycle, edited by Ruthy M. Watson, 32-37. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

6. Fetherston, Robin. “Tailing Inspector Bucket: Dickens’s Progeny in Hammett’s Hard-boiled Detective Fiction.” The International Journal of Arts & Sciences 7, no.1 (2014): 275-90.

7. Fetherston, Robin. “The Night the Dunes Fell Silent.” In I Want to Do Bad Things: Modern Interpretations of Evil, edited by Kristin L. Bone and Rivka Greig, 13-19. Leiden: Brill, 2014.

8. Fetherston, Robin. “Dickens and the Early Pre-Raphaelites: Finding Oneself among the Dead.” The International Journal of Arts & Sciences 3, no. 10 (October 2010): 127-42.

9. Fetherston, Robin. “Writing & Designing Short-Story Books for Adults.” The International Journal of the Book 5, no. 4 (Fall 2008): 25-36.  

10. Fetherston, Robin. “Books as Elements of Pleasure: Establishing a University-Wide Reading Program in an Oral Society in the Middle East.” The International Journal of the Book 4, no. 4 (September 2007): 177-184.

Presentations

Selected Presentations

1. “A Fictional Glimpse of Challenges to Belonging: Excerpts from ‘Sidekick’.” Live online presentation. 2nd Medical Humanities in the Middle East Conference, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and VCUarts Qatar, Doha, Qatar, April 9, 2022.

2. “Enriching the Story Through the Senses.” Invited workshop leader. Applied Research International Conference on Social Sciences & Humanities, King’s College London, University of London, London, United Kingdom, February 17, 2020.

3. "Dog Paddling in the Promised Land,” Great Writing: International Creative Writing Conference, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, July 7, 2019.

4. "Wishes Captured," International Conference on Research in Humanities, University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom, March 7, 2019.

5. “Aggie and Birch Revisited: From Character Portraits to Story,” Great Writing: International Creative Writing Conference, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, June 19, 2016.

6. “Crossing the Atlantic in a Bucket: Dickens’s Inspector and His Fat Forefinger Point to the New World.” Literary London: The Victorian Era and Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens Bicentennial & the London Research Symposium, The Oxford and Cambridge Club, London, United Kingdom, December 15, 2012.

Exhibitions

1. "Pictures from Doha." Poem. Good Vibes Only. The Gallery & Project Spaces, Saffron Hall, VCUarts Qatar, Doha, Qatar, September 28, 2022–November 15, 2020.

2. “Under the Radar and into the Fold: 70 Churches in Doha.” Seven-part photographic work. Juried. Seven. VCUQ Gallery, Doha, Qatar, December 14, 2006–February 1, 2007.

3. “kings and gods in Cyprus.”  Four-part photographic work. VCUQatar Faculty Exhibition. VCUQ Gallery, Doha, Qatar, Fall, 2004.

4. “Driving Doha.” Co-authored Video/Audio Installation with Michele Domenech. Art is Madness. VCUQ Gallery, Doha, Qatar, December 23, 2003.

Funded Research Projects and Grants

1. VCUarts Qatar Faculty Research Grant. “Short Story Workshop,” Iowa Summer Writing Festival, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, June 7-12, 2015.

2. VCUarts Qatar Faculty Research Grant. “Creative Research in Short Fiction at Doe Branch Ink,” Doe Branch Ink, Marshall, North Carolina, June 9-15, 2013.

3. VCUarts Qatar Faculty Research Grant. British Library Study Trip II, London, United Kingdom, March 4-14, 2008.

4. VCUarts Qatar Faculty Research Grant. British Library Study Trip, London, United Kingdom, November 23–December 2, 2007.

5. VCUarts Qatar Faculty Research Grant. Seminar/Workshop Participant and Essay Writer, Summer Literary Program, Nairobi, Kenya, December 2006.

6. VCUarts Qatar Faculty Development Grant. Conference Participant, Thirteenth Annual 18th and 19th Century British Women Writers Conference, Lafayette, Louisiana, April 2005.

7. VCUarts Qatar Faculty Development Grant. Conference Participant, TESOL Arabia 10th Annual International Conference in Dubai, UAE, March 2004.