Leigh McLennon grew up in New Zealand, where she attended Massey University for her BA (Hons) in English. Leigh moved to Melbourne to pursue her doctoral degree in English on an Australian Postgraduate Award. During her candidature at the University of Melbourne, she also participated in a graduate exchange with the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Leigh's doctoral research examines how the vampire has become increasingly posthuman in urban fantasy, paranormal romance and dystopian vampire literature. Her thesis argues that as they refract our own contemporary social anxieties, the unique forms of vampirism found in these new genres explore the dissolution of the boundaries between the self and the Other in posthuman worlds.
Leigh has also worked extensively as a library assistant, a research assistant, a tutor (TA), and an editor and editorial project manager.
Her other research interests include the Gothic, posthumanism, popular fiction, pop culture, fandom, and feminism and popular culture.
See also https://unimelb.academia.edu/LeighMcLennon for more information.