Originally posted: 27 March, 2020
We are excited to announce five of the plenary speakers joining us at BritGrad this year!
In this first batch of the plenary lineup are five esteemed academics who specialize in such areas as prison literature, performance of Shakespeare’s plays during the Restoration, women’s participation in the Jacobean court masque, and reception of Early Modern English literature in Arab-Muslim cultures.
You can learn a bit about these five plenaries below and learn more about them here.
Stay tuned for more plenary speakers to be revealed in April.
Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham. The central focus of Michael’s work has been on the interpretation of Shakespeare in the theatre down the centuries since his death, and on the history of our continuing love affair with Elizabeth and the Elizabethans.
Islam Issa, Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University. Islam’s research has focused primarily on the modern-day reception of Renaissance and Early Modern English literature in global contexts, with wider interests in literary translation, cultural studies, reception studies, disability studies, and censorship.
Andy Kesson, Reader in Early Modern Literature at the University of Roehampton. Andy is the author of John Lyly and Early Modern Authorship (2014), the lead researcher on the Before Shakespeare project (beforeshakespeare.com) and a regular collaborator with theatre practitioners on Early Modern drama.
Clare McManus, Professor of Early Modern Literature and Theatre at the University of Roehampton, London. Clare’s work challenges women’s exclusion from early modern English theatre. Her first book, Women on the Renaissance Stage (2002) analyses the masque performances of Anna of Denmark.
Lynn Robson, Fellow of Regent’s Park College, Oxford. Lynn’s research interests are in early modern print culture, particularly cheap print. Her initial research into prose murder pamphlets of the period is developing to encompass prison literature: writing from and about the early modern prison, with a concentration on the depiction of penitence.