Nicola Parsons

Nicola Parsons is Associate Professor in Eighteenth-Century Literature in the Discipline of English and Writing, School of Art, Communication and English, within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. She currently serves as Interim Deputy Head of School, Research. Her pronouns are she/her. Parsons earned her PhD in Literary Studies from the University of Melbourne in 2005 and a Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education) from the University of Sydney in 2009. She joined the University of Sydney as Senior Lecturer in 2011, holding that position until 2024, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025. Her research centers on eighteenth-century British literature and cultural history, particularly exploring how print sources interact with manuscript and visual materials to broaden understandings of the period. Key areas include the relationship between history and fiction from 1700 to the present, gossip culture in early eighteenth-century England, and ephemeral texts such as Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1760–1794).

Parsons is the author of Reading Gossip in Early Eighteenth-Century England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), which examines gossip's role in literary and social discourse. She co-edited Reading the Represented Past: History and Fiction from 1700 to the Present (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) with Kate Mitchell, featuring essays on historical fiction's evolution. Notable publications also include her article 'Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1760–1794)' in The Library (2022) and contributions on visualizing ideas in eighteenth-century contexts. She received an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP110101380) as Chief Investigator in 2011, funding $96,371 for research at the University of Sydney. Parsons has been awarded a Walpole Library Fellowship for 2023–24 and recognized for supervision excellence, including the SUPRA Research Supervisor Award in 2023 and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisor of the Year in 2024. She supervises PhD students, including those in joint programs with institutions like the University of Glasgow, and has organized academic events such as the David Nichol Smith Seminar in Eighteenth-Century Studies. Parsons engages publicly through The Conversation, authoring guides to eighteenth-century texts like Fantomina.

Professional Email: nicola.parsons@sydney.edu.au