I am a Classicist whose research focuses on the poetics and politics of Greek poetry from the archaic period to the Hellenistic world.
I am currently a a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Stipendiary Lecturer in Classics at Wadham College, Oxford.
Before that, I was a Research Fellow in Classics at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and an Affiliated Lecturer in Cambridge's Faculty of Classics (2018-2021).
As a student, I completed my BA and MSt at University College, Oxford, and my PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge, supervised by Professor Richard Hunter and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
I am currently finishing off a book on the 'pre-Alexandrian footnote' and other markers of allusion in archaic Greek poetry. 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 article in the 2020 edition of Corpus' Pelican, as well as 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) and co-organised the Laurence Seminar on 'Collaboration and Ancient Literature' in the Cambridge Classics Faculty (3-5 June 2021). For the 2019 CA/FIEC conference, I organised a panel entitled 'Poetics Between Greece and the Near East' (4-8 July) and I have co-organised a panel on 'The Poetics and Pragmatics of Hellenistic Aesthetics' for the 2022 SCS/AIA Annual Meeting in San Francisco (5-8 January).
I have taught a wide variety of classical subjects to both university students and school pupils, focusing on Greek and Latin Languages and Literature. This site contains some of my teaching resources and assignments for my students. I am also very eager to support the work and development of younger researchers and always welcome students with research aspirations to get in touch with me.
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 have been a UK Champion, British Champion, WDC European Champion and WDSF World Championship Semi-finalist in Latin Formation Dancing (2017, 2019). While completing my PhD, I represented the University of Cambridge in Dancesport and had the honour of captaining the team to an undefeated year at home and abroad 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).