Sonja Tiernan

Sonja Tiernan is an Irish–New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in modern Irish history and gender politics.

Academic career

Tiernan is originally from Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. She completed a PhD titled The literary life of Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926) at the University College Dublin. Tiernan was an associate professor at Liverpool Hope University before she was appointed the Eamon Cleary Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Otago in 2019. Tiernan is Co-Director, with Professor Liam McIlvanney, of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies.

Tiernan's research focuses on modern Irish history, including gender politics and social history. She has published several books on Irish women, including a biography of writer and activist Eva Gore-Booth, a history of marriage equality in Ireland, and two volumes of Irish women's speeches. The book includes speeches by 33 women, including a speech by trade unionist Harriet Morison.

Honours and award In 2018 Tiernan was awarded the inaugural Library Research Award by the Keough-Naughton Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Selected works

Books Sonja Tiernan, Eva Gore-Booth : An image of such politics. Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2016 - 296 p. - ISBN 9780719094996 . Casalini id: 5245790 Tiernan, S. (2021). Irish women's speeches: Voices that rocked the system. Dublin, Ireland: University College Dublin Press, 370p. Tiernan, S. (2022). Irish women's speeches (Vol. II): A rich chorus of voices. Dublin, Ireland: University College Dublin Press, 300p. Tiernan, S. (2020). History of marriage equality in Ireland: A social revolution begins. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 192p.

Journal articles Sonja Tiernan, ‘The Politics of Lesbian Fiction: Sonja Tiernan Interviews Novelist Sarah Waters’, Irish Feminist Review 2 (2006), 148–64 (p. 149)