I hold a Doctorate in Renaissance Literature, specialising in the seventeenth-century poet Andrew Marvell. I am currently the copywriter and content manager for the University of London.
I owe much of my interest in the seventeenth century to the late historian, Christopher Hill (1912-2003). I went to see Justin Champion deliver an impassioned defence of Hill and his work at a memorial lecture in Newark. … More Christopher Hill, Andrew Marvell, and the Dissenting Tradition
How an Australian teen sci-fi drama series from the early 1990s shows remarkable parallels with the current Brexit debacle. … More Tomorrow’s End
Why do we always seem to be drawn to what we don’t have? The stumbling block of how to pursue academic publications without fear of rejection. … More The Politics of Envy
10 things I took away from the IWMW 2018 event on ‘Streamlining Digital’ at the University of York. … More 10 things I learnt at IWMW 2018
Next week, I’ll be giving my first conference presentation in five years, and this time under the mantle of my new profession. … More Hands off – it’s ours! Taking back the reins.
The difficulties of dealing with involuntary celibacy, from desolation to misogyny, seem to haunt some of Andrew Marvell’s most famous lyric poems. … More Was Marvell a seventeenth-century ‘incel’?
Review of Kate Loveman, Samuel Pepys & His Books: Reading, Newsgathering & Sociability, 1660-1703 (Oxford University Press, 2015). … More Samuel Pepys and His Books
Hanya Yanagihara’s enrapturing novel A Little Life (2015) finds astonishing depths in suffering and the efforts to make it tolerable. … More A Little Life
I was reminded this week how nerve-wracking it can be getting to grips with a master’s, and why I have my supervisor to thank for it. … More Learning a new language
My job deserves my attention right now rather than my pension, and it’s hard not to feel bad for that. I hope the strikers will forgive my stance too. … More Why I’m not striking for USS
