Susan Sellers

Susan Sellers studied in London and Paris, receiving a DEA from the Sorbonne and a PhD from the University of London. While in Paris she worked closely with leading French feminist writers, particularly Hélène Cixous. She has written several books including Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Women's Writing and Hélène Cixous: Authorship, Autobiography and Love. Her first novel Vanessa and Virginia, a fictional account of the sibling rivalry between Virginia Woolf and the painter Vanessa Bell, was translated into numerous languages and adapted for the stage; her most recent novel, Firebird, explores the controversial marriage between the economist John Maynard Keynes and the Russian dancer Lydia Lopokova. She is co-editor of the Cambridge University Press edition of Woolf's writing and volume editor of Woolf's novel The Waves.

My work falls into three main areas: creative writing, modernist and contemporary women's fiction and literary and feminist theory. I run the Cambridge University Press scholarly edition of the writings of Virginia Woolf, and am volume editor of Woolf’s novel The Waves. My novel exploring the sibling relationship between Woolf and the painter Vanessa Bell, Vanessa and Virginia, has been translated into multiple languages and adapted for the stage; my most recent novel Firebird about the controversial marraige between the economist John Maynard Keynes and the Russian dancer Lydia Lopokova has also been translated. I have  published widely in the general area of feminist literary theory, including Language and Sexual Difference, Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Women’s Fiction, and several studies of the pioneering French feminist philosopher and writer Hélène Cixous.

I am interested in literary fiction, either from a creative or a critical perspective. 

French to English literary translation

Experience of running workshops in creative writing

Readings and literary discussions to a wide general audience

Media experience

I am currently working on a new novel. In Spring 2025, I will be taking up a Fellowship at the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy.