Dr. Joan Kirby inaugurated one of the first courses in American literature in Australia in the late 1960s and has taught American and Australian literature/culture at Macquarie University ever since.  She has published books on The American Model: Influence and Independence in Australian Poetry, Emily Dickinson , Gender Studies: Terms and Debates, as well as many articles on Australian women writers, classic American writers and essays on the confluence between literature and psychoanalysis.  She is currently working on a book on Emily Dickinson's reading and teaching a course entitled 'Reading U.S. Culture' which features Buffy the Vampire Slayer.