Historian, academic, writer, literary scholar, linguist, poet and literary translator, Associate Professor Karin Speedy has published extensively on transnational, colonial and anti-colonial Pacific and Francophone history and literature, as well as Creole languages, slavery and forced labour and African and Indian Ocean diasporas in the Pacific. In addition to her scholarly writing, she is a published writer of creative histories, particularly in the form of poetry. 'Foundations' is her first memoir/literary non fiction novel. Karin was born in Auckland, New Zealand and lived for many years in Paris and Sydney where she taught at the Sorbonne (Paris IV) and Macquarie University respectively. She returned home to Aotearoa a few years ago and now lives in Wellington with her daughters, partner and two cats. In recognition of her major contribution to knowledge of French language and culture in the Pacific, she was awarded the John Dunmore research Medal in 2013. In 2022, she commenced her Marsden Fund project, 'When colonial worlds connect: trans-imperial networks of forced labour between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the untold stories of Reunionese Creoles in Oceania'. Karin holds an honorary Visiting Research Fellow position at the University of Adelaide and is a full member of the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) and the Professional Historians' Association of New Zealand/Aotearoa (PHANZA).
