ABOUT
Having completed an MPhil in Renaissance Literature, I undertook my PhD collaboratively between the British Library and Queen Mary University of London. Entitled 'Hans Sloane's Library and its Material Connections', the thesis explored the interconnections between book and object, library and museum. I wrote it at the intersection between institutional history, book history and material studies, with segues into poetry, the history of science, and botany. In researching the thesis, I worked with curators from the Natural History Museum and British Museum as well as extensively within my team at the British Library. Academically, I am interested in what makes a book a book – and especially in the blurred lines between our experience of a text and the experience of reading.
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In my poetry I read and write widely, trying to live my life by Robert Hass's line: 'maybe you should write a poem about grace'. I am interested above all in a kindness and generosity of thought.
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In my prose, I write widely on sexual assault, pop culture, and literature. My book Thriftwood is a blend of nature writing, memoir, literary criticism and history: it is an exploration of Scouting, of first love, of puberty, of coming out, and also of Shakespeare.
My cat is called Cordelia; it's a test to see whether you think of Buffy, Brideshead Revisited, or King Lear.
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I am open to, and interested in, commissions. Please reach out!