She completed undergraduate studies in Latin and Greek Literature at the University of Oxford (1979) and a PhD in Comparative Literature at Yale University in 1983. Bowlby held positions at the University of Sussex, University of Oxford, and the University of York before joining UCL in 2004 as Lord Northcliffe Professor of English Literature. Between 2014 and 2016 Bowlby was Professor of Comparative Literature. She rejoined UCL in 2017. Bowlby was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2007.
