Denise Riley lives in London. Her writing includes poetry, the history of ideas, and philosophy. Among her prose books are War in the Nursery: Theories of the Child and Mother [1983], ‘Am I That Name?’ Feminism and the Category of 'Women' in History [1988], The Words of Selves: Identification, Solidarity, Irony (2000), The Force of Language (with Jean-Jacques Lecercle; 2004), and Impersonal Passion: Language as Affect (2005).

Speaking of her appointment, Denise said: “I’m thrilled to have been fortunate enough to have been given this great opportunity to discover Belfast; I’m especially looking forward to working with the students in whatever ways might be of help to support their writing.”