Carole M. Cusack is a professor of religious studies at the University of Sydney. She researches contemporary religious trends (pilgrimage and tourism, new religious movements, and religion and popular culture). Her books include (with Katharine Buljan) Anime, Religion and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in Contemporary Japan (Equinox 2015), Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith (Ashgate, 2010), and The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011). She holds a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Sydney.