I'm a Research Fellow in Classics at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
My research focuses on the poetics and politics of Greek poetry from the archaic period to the Hellenistic world.
I'm currently writing a book on the 'pre-Alexandrian footnote' and other markers of intertextuality in archaic and classical Greek literature. I explore how the earliest known Greek poets self-consciously acknowledged the familiarity of their subject matter and signalled their references to tradition – placing markers in their works for alert audiences to recognise. This kind of signposting is often considered the preserve of later literary cultures, closely linked with the development of libraries, literacy and writing. But I argue that these same devices were already deeply engrained in our earliest oral archaic Greek poetry.
My other major research interest lies in the field of Hellenistic poetry, where I'm especially interested in the fragments and traces of poetic traditions beyond Ptolemaic Alexandria. In particular, I focus on the literary cultures of the Attalids and Seleucids, as well as the rich dossier of extant epic fragments from throughout the Hellenistic world. More details about my research are available on other pages of this site, alongside my academia.edu and Humanities Common profile pages.
I am very open to any kind of collaborative research and am happy to be contacted about any ideas for collaboration, however preliminary.
I have organised a number of conferences and conference panels: I co-organised a panel on Hellenistic Poetry at CA 2016 and a conference on 'Hellenistic Poetry Beyond Callimachean Aesthetics' in Cambridge (1-3 September 2016). I was also a member of the organising committee for the Cambridge AHRC DTP's Conference on Time and Temporality, 14-16 September 2016. For the 2019 CA/FIEC conference, I organised a panel entitled 'Poetics Between Greece and the Near East' and I am co-organising the Laurence Seminar on 'Collaboration and Ancient Literature' in the Cambridge Classics Faculty (1-2 June 2020).
I teach a variety of classical subjects to both undergraduates and school pupils, focusing on Greek and Latin Languages and Literature. This site is primarily intended to host teaching resources and assignments for my students.
I am passionate about giving more people the opportunity to explore the myths, history and culture of the ancient world. In addition to giving school talks, I collaborate with the Young People's Puppet Theatre, a charity that encourages creativity and teamwork in primary schools. I have written a puppet version of 'Theseus and the Minotaur' for their year-long projects with year 6 classes in the UK; I particularly enjoy attending each class' final performance and talking with them beforehand about ancient myth and culture.
Beyond academia, I am passionate about dance and music. As a Ballroom and Latin dancer, I have represented England and Cambridge internationally in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland and China, and as a member of XS Latin Cambridge, I am a UK Champion, British Champion, WDC European Champion and WDSF World Championship Semi-finalist in Latin Formation Dancing. While completing my PhD, I represented the University of Cambridge in Dancesport and had the honour of leading the team as Captain in 2016-2017. I am also an enthusiastic social Cuban Salsa and Rueda dancer. In the past, I have played the French Horn in a number of orchestras and have performed in venues ranging from the Royal Albert Hall (London) and Sheldonian Theatre (Oxford) to St. Mark's Cathedral (Venice).