Department: Faculty of English Language and Literature
Talks:

Monday 27 October 2025

Shut Up and Write (or Translate)!
Date: 27 October 2025, 14:00 - 17:00
Speaker : Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation
Venue: St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details: Seminar Room 7
Organiser: Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation
Host: Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation

Tuesday 28 October 2025

On the Life and Work of Vincent Gillespie
Date: 28 October 2025, 12:15 - 13:15
Speaker s: Prof. Mishtooni Bose (University of Oxford), Denis Renevey (Lausanne), Raphaela Rohrhofer (University of Oxford), Professor Annie Sutherland (University of Oxford), Nicholas Watson (Harvard U)
Venue Details: The Margaret Thatcher Centre
Organisers: Professor Annie Sutherland (University of Oxford), Professor Daniel Wakelin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

‘Shakespeare's Dark Cosmologies’
Date: 28 October 2025, 17:15 - 19:15
Speaker : Professor Jane Degenhardt (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Venue: Merton College, Merton Street OX1 4JD
Venue Details: T S Eliot Lecture Theatre
Organisers: Professor Joe Moshenska (University of Oxford), Professor Lorna Hutson (Merton, Oxford), Bart van Es (English, University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

The Songs of Robert Burns - Then and Now
Date: 28 October 2025, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Dr Kirsteen McCue (University of Glasgow)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Massey Room
Organisers: Prof Fiona Stafford (University of Oxford), Professor Seamus Perry (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Lecture 1: English in the (post) Colonial Archive
Date: 28 October 2025, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Simon Gikandi (Princeton University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 29 October 2025

"Utopia across Disciplines”: A conversation between Douglas Mao and Duncan Bell
Date: 29 October 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker s: Douglas Mao (Johns Hopkins University and 2025 Astor Visiting Lecturer, Oxford), Duncan Bell (University of Cambridge)
Venue: Trinity College, Broad Street OX1 3BH
Venue Details: Garden Room, Levine Building
Organisers: Professor Peter Boxall (University of Oxford), Dr Elena Violaris (University of Oxford), Professor Santanu Das (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

"Listen. Time Passes": Literature and Radio, a conversation with Geoff Bird
Date: 29 October 2025, 17:15 - 18:45
Speaker s: Geoff Bird, Chair: Lucy Powell (Trinity College, Oxford)
Venue: Trinity College, Broad Street OX1 3BH
Venue Details: Levine Lecture Theatre - in-person only
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 30 October 2025

The Heat of Modernity: Race, Energy, and Violence in the Native Son Manuscripts
Date: 30 October 2025, 16:45 - 17:45
Speaker : Harry Stecopoulos (University of Iowa)
Venue: Rothermere American Institute, 1A South Parks Road OX1 3UB
Venue Details: Downstairs Seminar Room
Organisers: Antoine Traisnel (University of Oxford), Professor Nicole King (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Language, Beliefs, and Belonging: Immigrant Students in Basque-Medium Education
Date: 30 October 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Jaione Diaz Mazquiaran (Alan R King Etxepare Chair 2025)
Venue Details: CAWCS (hybrid at the Drwm, National Library of Wales). Please contact a.elias@wales.ac.uk for the link.
Organiser: Professor David Willis (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

“Utopia and the End of the World”: a lecture (Hosted by the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages)
Date: 30 October 2025, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Doug Mao (Johns Hopkins University)
Venue: Trinity College, Broad Street OX1 3BH
Venue Details: Auditorium, Levine Building
Organisers: Professor Peter Boxall (University of Oxford), Dr Elena Violaris (University of Oxford), Professor Santanu Das (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

“Crimea, The First Logistical Nightmare.”
Date: 30 October 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Susan Zieger
Venue Details: Seminar Room 00.056, Humanities Building
Organisers: Professor Helen Small (University of Oxford), Dr Clare Broome Saunders (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Lecture 2: Translating English: On Shakespeare and Bunyan in Africa
Date: 30 October 2025, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Simon Gikandi (Princeton University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 4 November 2025

The Darker Side of the Middle Ages
Date: 4 November 2025, 12:15 - 13:15
Speaker : Kathy Lavezzo (U of Iowa)
Venue: Somerville College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HD
Venue Details: The Margaret Thatcher Centre
Organisers: Professor Annie Sutherland (University of Oxford), Professor Daniel Wakelin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

‘The Darker Side of the Middle Ages’
Date: 4 November 2025, 12:15 - 13:15
Speaker : Kathy Lavezzo (U of Iowa)
Venue: Somerville College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HD
Organisers: Professor Daniel Wakelin (University of Oxford), Annie Sutherland (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

'"6am bad, 7am bad bad": The Diaries of William Woodman, Wigmaker of London (1706-1708)'
Date: 4 November 2025, 12:30 - 14:00
Speaker : Michael Powell-Davies (Birkbeck)
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.303, Humanities Building
Organisers: Dr Tess Somervell (University of Oxford), Professor David Taylor (University of Oxford), Dr Carly Watson (University of Oxford), Professor Nicole Pohl (University of Oxford), Professor Christine Gerrard (University of Oxford), Professor Abigail Williams (Faculty of English), Professor Ros Ballaster (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Early Modern Literature Graduate Forum
Date: 4 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Organisers: Clemence Smith, Ceola Daly
Hosts: TBA

Lecture 3: The Other Victorians: What If Jane Eyre was a Missionary?
Date: 4 November 2025, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Simon Gikandi (Princeton University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 5 November 2025

Interdisciplinary Early Modern Graduate Workshop
Date: 5 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.302, Humanities Building
Organisers: Clemence Smith, Kathryn Hempstead (Merton)
Hosts: TBA

Modern and Contemporary Graduate Forum
Date: 5 November 2025, 18:00 - 20:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.402, Schwarzman Centre for Humanities
Organiser: Olivia Sutherland (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 6 November 2025

'Philip Pullman: Sense of an ending'
Date: 6 November 2025, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker : Dr Margaret Kean (St Hilda's College, University of Oxford)
Venue: Cohen Quadrangle, Walton Street OX1 2HD
Venue Details: The Fitzhugh Lecture Theatre, Cohen Quad, Walton Street, Oxford (Exeter College’s annex)
Organiser: Professor Stuart Lee (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Postcolonial Writing and Theory Research Seminar
Date: 6 November 2025, 15:00 - 16:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Tthe Okinaga Room
Organisers: Prof. Pablo Mukherjee (Wolfson), Prof. Ankhi Mukherjee (University of Oxford), Professor Elleke Boehmer (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Beowulf Reading Group
Date: 6 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.304, Humanities Building
Organiser: Prof. Francis Leneghan (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

London Puritan networks and the publication of the 1630 Welsh Bible
Date: 6 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Oxford (online) - Please contact david.willis@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk if you need a link to join online.
Organisers: Jenyth Evans (University of Oxford), Professor David Willis (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Lecture 4: Decolonizing English: An Incomplete Project
Date: 6 November 2025, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Simon Gikandi (Princeton University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 11 November 2025

Hosted jointly with the Medieval French Seminar
Date: 11 November 2025, 12:15 - 13:15
Speaker : Julia Mattison (U of Georgia)
Venue: Somerville College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HD
Venue Details: The Margaret Thatcher Centre
Organisers: Professor Annie Sutherland (University of Oxford), Professor Daniel Wakelin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

'Unmaking a Man: The Contested Bodies of the Völundr Legend'
Date: 11 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Professor Caz Batten (University of Pennsylvania)
Venue: St John's College, St Giles OX1 3JP
Venue Details: New Seminar Room
Organiser: Prof. Gareth Evans (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

‘Shakespeare’s Ballad Business’
Date: 11 November 2025, 17:15 - 19:15
Speaker : Professor Tiffany Stern (Shakespeare Institute)
Venue: Merton College, Merton Street OX1 4JD
Venue Details: T S Eliot Lecture Theatre
Organisers: Professor Bart Van Es (University of Oxford), Professor Joe Moshenska (University of Oxford), Professor Lorna Hutson (Merton, Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Sardinia: On the Margins of Romantic travel
Date: 11 November 2025, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Dr Thomas Leonard-Roy (Università degli Studi di Sassari)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Massey Room
Organisers: Prof Fiona Stafford (University of Oxford), Professor Seamus Perry (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 12 November 2025

Modern and Contemporary Graduate Forum
Date: 12 November 2025, 18:00 - 20:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.402, Schwarzman Centre for Humanities
Organiser: Olivia Sutherland (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 13 November 2025

‘Translating Fantasy: Language, Culture and Mythology — with a Navajo Case study'
Date: 13 November 2025, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker s: Dr Mark Atherton (University of Oxford), Barbara Fischer
Venue Details: The Fitzhugh Lecture Theatre, Cohen Quad, Walton Street, Oxford (Exeter College’s annex)
Organiser: Professor Stuart Lee (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Epistolary Activism: Re-tracing Louise Michel’s US Radical Networks
Date: 13 November 2025, 16:45 - 17:45
Speaker : J. Michelle Coghlan (University of Manchester)
Venue: Rothermere American Institute, 1A South Parks Road OX1 3UB
Venue Details: Downstairs Seminar Room
Organisers: Antoine Traisnel (University of Oxford), Professor Nicole King (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Gwlithod Blewog a Mygydau Barddol: Golwg Newydd ar Garchariad Aneirin yn y Tŷ Deyerin
Date: 13 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Simon Rodway (Aberystwyth)
Venue Details: CAWCS (hybrid at CAWCS) - Please contact a.elias@wales.ac.uk for the link.
Organiser: Professor David Willis (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 17 November 2025

Early Career Researchers Forum
Date: 17 November 2025, 13:30 - 15:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.424, English Faculty
Organisers: Dr Luisa Ostacchini (University of Oxford), Dr Elena Violaris (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 18 November 2025

Vulnerable Bodies: The Old English Verse Charms, Again
Date: 18 November 2025, 12:15 - 13:15
Speaker : Caroline Batten (New College)
Venue: Somerville College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HD
Venue Details: The Margaret Thatcher Centre
Organisers: Professor Annie Sutherland (University of Oxford), Professor Daniel Wakelin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Early Modern Literature Graduate Forum
Date: 18 November 2025, 17:15 - 19:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.302, Humanities Building
Organisers: Clemence Smith, Ceola Daly
Hosts: TBA

Roundtable: 'Jane Austen at 250'
Date: 18 November 2025, 17:30 - 19:00
Speaker s: Professor Ros Ballaster (University of Oxford), Dr Sandie Byrne (Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford), Octavia Cox (University of Oxford), Prof. Kathryn Sutherland (University of Oxford)
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.303, Humanities Building
Organisers: Dr Tess Somervell (University of Oxford), Professor David Taylor (University of Oxford), Dr Carly Watson (University of Oxford), Professor Nicole Pohl (University of Oxford), Professor Christine Gerrard (University of Oxford), Professor Abigail Williams (Faculty of English), Professor Ros Ballaster (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 19 November 2025

Leverhulme Early Career Researcher roundtable discussion
Date: 19 November 2025, 17:15 - 19:00
Speaker s: Dr Mae Losasso (University of Warwick), Dr Christy Wensley (University of Oxford), Dr Joshua Phillips (University of Oxford)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: The Wharton Room
Organisers: Professor Peter Boxall (University of Oxford), Dr Elena Violaris (University of Oxford), Professor Santanu Das (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Interdisciplinary Early Modern Graduate Workshop
Date: 19 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.302, Humanities Building
Organisers: Clemence Smith, Kathryn Hempstead (Merton)
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 20 November 2025

‘C.S. Lewis and the Atmospherics of Fantasy’
Date: 20 November 2025, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker : Michael Ward
Venue: Cohen Quadrangle, Walton Street OX1 2HD
Venue Details: The Fitzhugh Lecture Theatre, Cohen Quad, Walton Street, Oxford (Exeter College’s annex),
Organiser: Professor Stuart Lee (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Postcolonial Writing and Theory Research Seminar
Date: 20 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue: Wadham College, Parks Road OX1 3PN
Organisers: Prof. Pablo Mukherjee (Wolfson), Prof. Ankhi Mukherjee (University of Oxford), Professor Elleke Boehmer (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

‘Turn and face the strange’: Analysing animal species present in medieval Irish narratives of transformation
Date: 20 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Roan Runge (Glasgow)
Venue Details: Oxford (hybrid) - Seminar Room 30.022 of the Schwarzman Centre, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road.. Please contact david.willis@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk if you need a link to join online.
Organisers: Jenyth Evans (University of Oxford), Professor David Willis (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Beowulf Reading Group
Date: 20 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.304, Humanities Building
Organiser: Prof. Francis Leneghan (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 24 November 2025

“The Grounds of Empire: Relay and Resistance”
Date: 24 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Clare Pettitt
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.424, Humanities Building
Organisers: Professor Helen Small (University of Oxford), Dr Clare Broome Saunders (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 25 November 2025

‘True Fire: Saint Augustine, the Climate Crisis, and Creative Non-Fiction’ / ‘Affective Ecologies in Petrarch’s Lyric Poems’
Date: 25 November 2025, 17:15 - 19:15
Speaker s: Professor Bart Van Es (University of Oxford), Professor Francesca Southerden (Italian)
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.424, English Faculty, Humanities Building, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers: Professor Bart Van Es (University of Oxford), Professor Joe Moshenska (University of Oxford), Professor Lorna Hutson (Merton, Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Wordsworth's Infinitive
Date: 25 November 2025, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Oliver Clarkson (LMH)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Massey Room
Organisers: Prof Fiona Stafford (University of Oxford), Professor Seamus Perry (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 27 November 2025

‘Prequels and the Mother-Ship: House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones’
Date: 27 November 2025, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker : Prof Carolyne Larrington (University of Oxford)
Venue: Cohen Quadrangle, Walton Street OX1 2HD
Venue Details: The Fitzhugh Lecture Theatre, Cohen Quad, Walton Street, Oxford (Exeter College’s annex)
Organiser: Professor Stuart Lee (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

On Not Wanting To Burn with a Hard Gem-Like Flame: Intensity in Contemporary U.S. Fiction
Date: 27 November 2025, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker : Professor Nicholas Gaskill (University of Oxford)
Venue: Rothermere American Institute, 1A South Parks Road OX1 3UB
Venue Details: Downstairs Seminar Room
Organisers: Antoine Traisnel (University of Oxford), Professor Nicole King (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

‘Dros Gymru’n Gwlad’: hanes sefydlu’r Blaid Genedlaethol
Date: 27 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker s: Gwen Angharad Gruffudd, Arwel Vittle
Venue Details: CAWCS (hybrid at CAWCS) - The National Library of Wales or at CAWCS. Please contact a.elias@wales.ac.uk for the link.
Organiser: Professor David Willis (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 28 November 2025

A symposium on current journals, to mark the birthday of 'The Review of English Studies'
Date: 28 November 2025, 14:00 - 18:00
Speaker s: professor Daniel Waklein (University of Oxford), Colin Burrows (University of Oxford), Professor Peter Boxall (University of Oxford), Stefan Collini (University of Cambridge), Juliette Atkinson (UCL), Dr Freya Johnston (University of Oxford), Stefan Collini (University of Cambridge)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: The Old Library
Organisers: Professor Peter Boxall (University of Oxford), Dr Elena Violaris (University of Oxford), Professor Santanu Das (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 1 December 2025

“Borrowed Time: reflections on the history and philosophy of library use in nineteenth-century Birmingham and beyond.”
Date: 1 December 2025, 12:15 - 14:00
Speaker : Professor Sophie Ratcliffe (University of Oxford)
Venue: Trinity College, Broad Street OX1 3BH
Venue Details: Garden Room
Organisers: Professor Helen Small (University of Oxford), Dr Clare Broome Saunders (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Early Career Researchers Forum
Date: 1 December 2025, 18:00 - 19:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Pub social
Organisers: Dr Luisa Ostacchini (University of Oxford), Dr Elena Violaris (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 2 December 2025

Early Modern Literature Graduate Forum
Date: 2 December 2025, 17:15 - 19:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.302, Humanities Building
Organisers: Clemence Smith, Ceola Daly
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 3 December 2025

Interdisciplinary Early Modern Graduate Workshop
Date: 3 December 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.302, Humanities Building
Organisers: Clemence Smith, Kathryn Hempstead (Merton)
Hosts: TBA

Modern and Contemporary Graduate Forum
Date: 3 December 2025, 18:00 - 20:00
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.402, Schwarzman Centre for Humanities
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 4 December 2025

Postcolonial Writing and Theory Research Seminar
Date: 4 December 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue: Wadham College, Parks Road OX1 3PN
Organisers: Prof. Pablo Mukherjee (Wolfson), Prof Elleke Boehmer (English, Oxford), Ankhi Mukherjee (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Beowulf Reading Group
Date: 4 December 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10.304, Humanities Building
Organiser: Prof. Francis Leneghan (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Lexical prescription in Breton: what does it involve and who is taking notice?
Date: 4 December 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
Venue Details: Oxford (hybrid) - Seminar Room 30.022 of the Schwarzman Centre, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road.
Organisers: Jenyth Evans (University of Oxford), Professor David Willis (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA