Dr Caroline Cauchi

Dr Caroline Cauchi

Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of Humanities

Qualifications

  • BA (University of Liverpool)
  • MA (Manchester Metropolitan University)
  • PhD / DPhil (Liverpool John Moores University)

Summary

Dr Caroline Cauchi is an academic and international bestselling author. She writes both historical fiction and experimental fiction (also known as Caroline Smailes). Her acclaimed debut novel, ‘In Search of Adam’, was published in 2007. Since then Caroline has written nine additional novels (including one with eleven endings!), a short story collection, two novellas and a libretto. All of her creative work explores place and the search for identity. The feature film of her novel ‘The Drowning of Arthur Braxton’ premiered at Raindance Film Festival in November 2021, where it was awarded Best UK Feature.

Caroline’s debut historical novel, ‘Mrs Van Gogh’ (HarperCollins), was published in the UK and internationally in 2023. It was a bestseller in several territories and was selected as a 'Heather's Pick' read in Canada (2023). Her latest novel, 'The Woman Who Went Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel', was published in the UK (HarperCollins) in October 2024, and as 'Queen of the Mist' in the US (HarperCollinsUS) and Canada (HarperCollinsCanada).

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Book

The Woman Who Went over Niagara Falls in a Barrel

Cauchi, C. (2024). The Woman Who Went over Niagara Falls in a Barrel. HarperCollins UK

Queen of The Mist

Cauchi, C. (2024). Queen of The Mist. HarperCollins Publishers

Proua van Gogh

Cauchi, C. (2024). Proua van Gogh. Tänapäev

Mrs Van Gogh [Canadian edition]

Cauchi, C. (2023). Mrs Van Gogh [Canadian edition]. HarperCollins Canada

Mrs Van Gogh [US Edition]

Cauchi, C. (2023). Mrs Van Gogh [US Edition]. HarperCollins US

Research interests

Dr Caroline Cauchi's current academic research combines creative practice and critical inquiry, focusing on the ethical dimensions of narrative representation and the recovery of silenced voices in history.

Through her creative work—novels that reimagine the lives of women involved in creative pursuits, such as the visual arts—she explores how these women, often overshadowed by more prominent male figures, have been rendered invisible in historical narratives. This complements Dr Cauchi's critical research into how women in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries were key contributors to modernist movements, despite their exclusion from mainstream histories. Her research interrogates female agency in these movements and examines what is needed to bring their stories to the fore.

Additionally, Dr Cauchi's research delves into the ethical responsibilities of writers portraying real lives in fiction and non-fiction. Through projects like 'Ethics in Ink: Navigating the Moral Terrain of Writing About Real Lives', she explores themes such as cultural appropriation, othering, and the challenges of representing trauma and marginalised identities, emphasising how creative storytelling can foster empathy and challenge dominant discourses.

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

The Hull Literary Prize

Funder

University of Hull

Grant

£1,050.00

Started

27 January 2025

Status

Ongoing

Postgraduate supervision

Caroline welcomes applications in practice-led PhDs in fiction (novel, short story and creative non-fiction). Her specific areas of interest and expertise are:

Feminist scholarship

Historical narratives

Ethics of storytelling

Narrative innovation

UK publishing

Novel writing

Short story writing

Novel to film adaptation

Writing experimental fiction

Writing historical fiction

Adaptation and retelling

Ethical responsibility of fictionalising real lives

Herstory

Awards and prizes

'Mrs Van Gogh' Selected as a Heather's Pick in Canada

2023 - 2024

'Mrs Van Gogh', has been selected for Heather's Picks in Canada. Founded by Heather Reisman, "CEO of Indigo, Canada’s leading cultural department store”, Heather's Picks is an "Oprah-esque seal (or sticker) of approval", which has been running since 1998. Caroline Cauchi's novel is latest Heather's Pick, offering a money-back guarantee by Canada's 'most influential reader'.

‘The Drowning Of Arthur Braxton’ wins Best UK Feature 2021 at Raindance Film Festival Awards

2021 - 2021

The film of 'The Drowning of Arthur Braxton' wins the prestigious Best UK Feature 2021 at Raindance Film Festival. See also: The Drowning of Arthur Braxton (2021) - IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5481180/ The international release in 2022 - https://deadline.com/2022/08/the-drowning-of-arthur-braxton-set-for-international-release-1235098982/ The premier at Raindance Film Festival November 2021 - https://raindance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/The-Drowning-of-Arthur-Braxton-Media-Alert.pdf Reporting winning Best UK Feature 2021 at Raindance - https://variety.com/2021/awards/global/raindance-film-festival-2021-award-winners-1235104953/

Conference presentation

Keynote Lecture - THE ROLE OF THE CREATIVE IN ADDRESSING THE POLITICAL

2023 - 2023

Keynote lecture - THE ROLE OF THE CREATIVE IN ADDRESSING THE POLITICAL Craft, Creativity, Critique Postgraduate Symposium 27 – 28 March 2023 Department of English, University of Malta ‘Craft, Creativity, Critique’ was the next instalment in a series of annual symposia organised by postgraduate students with the Department of English at the University of Malta. The conference was open to all local postgraduate students and alumni as well as postgraduate students and postdocs internationally.

Other

Historical Novel Society Review: The Woman Who Went Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel

2024 - 2024

'Cauchi takes us on an enjoyable ride of a tale, told from the heart.'

Historical Novel Society Review: Mrs Van Gogh

2023 - 2023

A review by the Historical Novel Magazine. 'A tour de force of research, this biographical novel about Vincent Van Gogh and the life of his pictures beyond his own short span is told from the point of view of Johanna Bonger, who becomes the wife of Vincent’s brother, Theo.'

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