Lauren Alex O'Hagan

Dr Lauren Alex O'Hagan is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University and an Affiliated Researcher in the Department of Media and Communication Studies at Örebro University. An experienced sociolinguist, her expertise lies in the study of visual and material culture. Her past work has explored 19th/early 20th-century book inscriptions, food advertisements and political postcards. More recently, Lauren's research has shifted to focus on the Irish blues musician Rory Gallagher. Through her 'Rewriting Rory' project, she has spearheaded a reappraisal of Gallagher's final decade, drawing on unexplored archival materials and fresh interviews with those who knew him, challenging the typical ‘rise and fall’ narrative that continues to be perpetuated in stories of his life. Lauren's broader work on Gallagher also delves into the influence of crime fiction on his songwriting, public sites of memorialisation and remembrance, depictions in the international music press throughout his career and constructions of Irishness in Gallagher documentaries and online fan communities.