Books
Lawrence/Atreides: The Roots of Dune chapbook (2026)
This chapbook and prints set features my extended essay on the similarities between the real-life World War One officer T.E. Lawrence and the hero of Dune, Paul Atreides, and how the legend of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ inspired Frank Herbert as he developed his story of a foreign figure who immerses himself in a desert culture and helps lead the locals to overthrow their oppressors.
Limited to 250 copies from publisher Withnail Books.
Adaptations of Dune: Frank Herbert’s Story on Screen (2024) [view the press release]
This study explores the three screen adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune and how faithful they are to the book. It covers the 1984 film by David Lynch, the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries by John Harrison, and the 2021 film by Denis Villeneuve.
Frank Herbert’s Dune: A Critical Companion (2022) [view the press release]
*Please note that I do not make money from sales of my book on the Springer/Palgrave site or Amazon, due to the nature of the academic publishing industry. I only benefit if you purchase using an affiliate referral link (and accept cookies).
Springer/Palgrave offers a much more generous referral link percentage to authors, so if you’d like to buy Frank Herbert’s Dune: A Critical Companion, please do so here from them – free shipping for hardcover, ebook is instant PDF download. If you still prefer Amazon, please use this Amazon referral link. Thanks for supporting independent scholars!
Women’s Agency in the Dune Universe: Tracing Women’s Liberation through Science Fiction (2021) [view the press release]
*Please note that I do not make money from sales of my book on the Springer/Palgrave site or Amazon, due to the nature of the academic publishing industry. I only benefit if you purchase using an affiliate referral link (and accept cookies).
Springer/Palgrave offers a much more generous referral link percentage to authors, so if you’d like to buy Women’s Agency in the Dune Universe, please do so here from them – free shipping for hardcover, ebook is instant PDF download. If you still prefer Amazon, please use this Amazon referral link. Thanks for supporting independent scholars!
I also have a chapter titled “Liberating Women’s Bodies: Feminist Philosophy and the Bene Gesserit of Dune” in the book Dune and Philosophy: Minds, Monads, and Muad’Dib (2022), available on Amazon in paperback or ebook. My chapter includes new material not in my first book about the theories of philosopher Iris Marion Young and bodily mobility in relation to the Bene Gesserit.
Other Books
If you haven’t yet read Dune, you can find it on Amazon, your local bookstore, or local library. If you’re interested in other recent scholarship about the Dune series, check out Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga (2022), which is a collection covering topics such as philosophy, political science, disability studies, religion, environment, and history.
Articles
Kennedy, K. (forthcoming). “Shadows of Agency: Women’s Representation in Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two.”
Kennedy, K. (2026). Dune’s Discomfort with Religion. American Philosophical Association.
Kennedy, K. (2024). Chani and the Empowered Woman Stereotype in ‘Dune: Part Two’. Dune News Net.
Kennedy, K. (2024). Dune: Part Two’s Treatment of Women is an Abomination. DuneScholar.com
Kennedy, K. (2024). Adapting Dune to the Screen: Three Different Interpretations of Herbert’s Vision. Tor.com/Reactor.com
Kennedy, K. (2023). Tracing Second-Wave Feminism through Women in the Dune Series. The Routledge Companion to Gender and Science Fiction, edited by Lisa Yaszek, Sonja Fritzsche, Keren Omry, and Wendy Gay Pearson, Routledge, pp. 351-357.
Kennedy, K. & Whaley, D. (2023). Names and World-Building in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones. Literary Onomastics, edited by Dorothy Dodge Robbins, Lexington Books, pp. 81-97.
Kennedy, K. (2023). “Frank Herbert.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, vol. 439, Gale.
Kennedy, K. (2021). Spice and Ecology in Herbert’s Dune: Altering the Mind and the Planet. Science Fiction Studies, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 444-461.
Kennedy, K. (2021). Frank Herbert, the Bene Gesserit, and the Complexity of Women in the World of Dune. Tor.com/Reactor.com
Kennedy, K. (2021). Lawrence of Arabia, Paul Atreides, and the Roots of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Tor.com/Reactor.com
Kennedy, K. (2020). The Softer Side of Dune: The Impact of the Social Sciences on World-Building. Exploring Imaginary Worlds: Essays on Media, Structure, and Subcreation, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf, Routledge, pp. 159-174.
Kennedy, K. (2016). Epic World-Building: Names and Cultures in Dune. Names, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 99–108. DOI: 10.1080/00277738.2016.1159450. Also available in translations: Spanish (Un Portentoso Mundo Ficticio: Nombres y Culturas en Dune), French ( Construction d’un Univers épique: Noms et cultures dans Dune), Portuguese (Construção de Mundo Épica: Nomes e Culturas em Duna), and Arabic (ملحمة بناء العالم الأسماء والحضارات في رواية الكثبان).
Book Reviews
Kennedy, K. (2023). Review: Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga, edited by Dominic J. Nardi and N. Trevor Brierly.
Kennedy, K. (2021). Review of Valerie Estelle Frankel’s Star Wars Meets the Eras of Feminism: Weighing All the Galaxy’s Women Great and Small.
Kennedy, K. (2020). Review of Donald E. Palumbo’s A Dune Companion: Characters, Places and Terms in Frank Herbert’s Original Six Novels.
Interviews
Dune Talk podcast about the television show Dune: Prophecy
Discussion of Dune the book, Dune: Part Two the film, and various theoretical perspectives on the Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour podcast (available on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, or iTunes)
Variety article on Dune: Part Two’s treatment of Middle Eastern and North African elements and Islamic culture – ‘Dune 2’ Criticized for Lack of Middle Eastern and North African Inclusion and Influences: ‘A Missed Opportunity’
Inverse article on potential future sequel adaptations of Dune – Should Denis Villeneuve Make More Dune Sequels? Dune Scholars Aren’t So Sure 
Discussion of the character Chani in the Dune: Part Two film on the Gom Jabbar podcast
Discussion of the Fremen and Dune: Part Two on Nomads, Past and Present podcast
Women Discuss Dune panel with four of us scholars
Dune Talk interview about my book Adaptations of Dune
Dune Pod Interview about my book on the Bene Gesserit; available on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Discussion of the Fremen in Dune on the Digital Nomads podcast
Vulture article on the Middle Eastern and North African elements in Dune: Part One – Dune Has a Desert Problem
Esquire Netherlands article on Dutch elements in Dune – Ready for Dune? Here’s what you need to know before going to the cinema. The writer of the science fiction story was inspired by Dutch culture on several occasions.
Interview about my scholarship on Dune – What makes a world work? Exploring the groundbreaking universe of Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’
