Sebnem Nazli Karali

About

Sebnem Nazli Karali, Ph.D. (2024), Edith Cowan University, is scholar of literature and theatre with a diverse professional background, including work as an actor, dramaturg, writer, and language instructor. She holds a PhD in Creative Arts from Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where her research centred on the dramaturgy of memory, trauma, and gender. Her doctoral research is contracted for publication as a book in 2026 with Palgrave Macmillan. An interdisciplinary scholar and polyglot, Sebnem has taught language, literature, and philosophy at both high school and university levels. She has contributed to national and international conferences, collaborating with performers, visual artists, filmmakers, and academics in artistic exhibitions, world festivals, scholarly workshops, and research projects. Her primary research interests revolve around the literary and dramatic works of minority-ethnic and migrant communities, with a focus on memory, trauma, and gender. In addition to her academic credentials, Sebnem holds an MA in Acting and has extensive experience in theatre-making, performance, and playwriting. She has written and translated plays, and has contributed as an actor, dramaturg, and director in stage productions. Her work as a consecutive interpreter and translator has provided valuable insights into the works of contemporary playwrights and performers. Sebnem has also edited for drama publishing companies and co-taught courses in literature, drama, theatre, and acting at the undergraduate level. Her recent publications include 'Resilience and Dramatic Storytelling of the Armenian Genocide (Odpornost in dramska pripoved o armenskem genocidu)' (ČKZ, 2024); 'Postmemorial Dramaturgy of the Armenian Catastrophe: The Armenian Question' in Performing Gender, Sexual, and Racial Dynamics on the US Stage (eds. Xavier Lemoine, Christine Kiehl and Claire Delahaye. RADAC. 2023); 'The Hunger for Touch: Fatih Akin’s Gegen die Wand (Head-On) and the Cinema of Sensation' (with G. Karpathakis) in Sexuality and Eroticism in a Post-pandemic World: Beyond the Biopolitics of the New Normal (eds. P. Shining and J. Braddy. Brill. 2023); ‘Circulation of Orhan Pamuk’s Benim Adım Kırmızı [My Name is Red] in Contemporary Chinese-Indonesian literature’ (with A. N. Adji) in Writing through things 2: The thing as writing prompt (eds. M. Saward and D. Wain. TEXT Special Issue. 2021); ‘Masculine Uses of the Womb in the Renaissance’ in Expanding and Restricting the Erotic: A Critique of Current and Past Norms (eds. L. Buttigieg, S. Kanaouti, L. M. Evangelista, and R. S. Stewart. Brill. 2020); ‘Musical Affect and the Emotion-Cognition Interaction in The Phantom of the Opera’ (Neohelicon, 2020); ‘The Case of Einar Wegener Revisited’ (Bedër, 2016). She has a translated chapter currently awaiting publication titled ‘A Cor do Potencial Erótico: Sula, de Toni Morrison, ou Como Desconstruir o Heteropatriarcado Negro’ in Erotismo, Feminismo e Empoderamento (ed. L. M. Evangelista. University of Brasilia Press. 2024).

Education