Dr Charlotte Barnes

Lecturer in Cultural Studies

Institute of Arts and Humanities

English Media and Culture

Contact Details

email: c.barnes@worc.ac.uk

Dr Charlotte Barnes is a specialist in True Crime with a particular focus on (mis)representations of truth, serial killer narratives, and media manipulation of crime. Her teaching spans a wide range in the department, covering Creative Writing, English, and Media and Film Studies, throughout which she focusses on genre fiction, prose writing, literary theory, and representations of culture.

Charlotte splits her time between creative and academic writing. To date, she has published over fifteen novels, with the most of these, Nothing But The Truth, being published in March 2026. Charlotte’s most recent monograph, Reading Ann Rule: Landmarks in True Crime, is the first work to critically analyse the works and literary contributions of True Crime writer Ann Rule, and this was published in 2025 by Palgrave Macmillan. She is currently researching her third monograph.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Creative Writing, University of Birmingham, 2017
  • MA in Creative Writing, University of Birmingham, 2014
  • BA (Hons) in English and English language, The University of the West of England, Bristol, 2013

Teaching interests

CRWT2000: Writer as Researcher

CRWT2004: Genre Fiction

ENGL2201: Exploding the Canon

HUMS4007: New Humanities

 

At other points in the academic year, Charlotte also contributes to Media and Film Studies modules, including MEFS1001: Global Cultures and MEFS2002: Screen Cultures.

Recent publications

Fiction:
Nothing But The Truth (Bloodhound Books)
The Break-up Before Christmas (Choc Lit)
A Guilty Woman (Bloodhound Books)
A Walk in the Park (Choc Lit)
A True Crime (Bloodhound Books)
The Good Child (Bloodhound Books)
Your Body is a House Stripped (Novella) (Broken Sleep Books)
Penance (Bloodhound Books)
Safe Word (Bloodhound Books)
The Break Up (Bloodhound Books)
The Things I Didn't Do (Bloodhound Books)
Sincerely, Yours (Bloodhound Books)
All I See Is You (Bloodhound Books)
The DI Melanie Watton Series (The Copycat, The Watcher, The Cutter) (Bloodhound Books)
Intention (Bloodhound Books)
The Women You Were Warned About (Short story collection) (Black Pear Press)

Poetry:
perfume (Salo Press)
freebleeding (in collaboration with Wendy Allen) (Broken Sleep Books)
Myth | Woman (in collaboration with Claire Walker) (Black Light Engine Room Press)
Hierarchy of Needs (in collaboration with Claire Walker) (V. Press)
Lore: Flowers, Folklore, and Footnotes (Black Pear Press)
A Z-hearted Guide to Heartache (V. Press)

Academic publications:
Reading Ann Rule: Landmarks in True Crime (Palgrave Macmillan)
Deconstructing True Crime Literature (Palgrave Macmillan)