Kaitlin Thurlow is a PhD student in English at the University of Georgia. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature and a BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts. Her research interests include empathy, objects, and exile in modernist and contemporary Irish fiction and art. She has presented symposium and conference papers at American Conference for Irish Studies, the International James Joyce Symposium, the Modern Language Association, and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Her publications include “Empathy in Exile: Edna O’Brien, Donal Ryan and the Contemporary Irish Novel,” in Studi Irlandesi: A Journal of Irish Studies; and a forthcoming book chapter on the artist Sean Scully.