Emma Smith

Do join me and @callanid.bsky.social to talk buck baskets, feisty wives and small town Tudor life👇

Philippa Gregory: Boleyn Traitor Sam Leith's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the historical novelist Philippa Gregory. In her gripping new book Boleyn Traitor, Philippa seeks to rescue Jane Boleyn from the vast condescensio...

Really enjoyed talking to Philippa Gregory about Cromwell, Tudor slang, historical fiction and tyranny for the new podcast

Will is one of the best people I know to talk to about poetry: £20 for 2 hours of his time is a bargain

Early modern autofiction?

'This glamorous Life writing began early. Weeks before Marlowe’s untimely and violent death, a shady intelligencer called Richard Baines had drafted the outline of the playwright’s afterlife'

Emma Smith: Our ideas of Christopher Marlowe

At @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk on Tuesday: Fiona Stafford speaks to Jenny Uglow about her new book, A Year with Gilbert White, which chronicles the work of the Hampshire clergyman who became the father of British natural history.

Just a few tickets are left:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jenny-uglo...

YouTube video by Pablo Rodri Tony Harrison V (Richard Eyre)

Here's a film of his long, searing 1980s poem V. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu3Z...

English Faculty/OWC Shakespeare Webinar: The Merry Wives of Windsor In this free webinar, Professor Emma Smith will be discussing the new edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor from Oxford World's Classics.

Our #Shakespeare webinar series continues! Join us on 6 Oct at 6pm to delve into the new OWC edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor with @oldfortunatus.bsky.social &
@callanjd.bsky.social

All welcome! Register now via Eventbrite & you will be sent a Zoom link before the event. #teamenglish

Look who has a gorgeous cover now!! Arden of Faversham introduced by moi will be published as part of the Oxford World’s Classics series in April 2026.

Look at that cover! ❤️❤️🔥

Publication date is 9 April 2026. You can pre-order your copy here: global.oup.com/ukhe/product...

10 Reasons Why the Iambic Pentameter is Not Like the Human Heartbeat On an idea about poetry that needs to die

'And that underlying rhythm probably sounds quite familiar: it’s like a heartbeat. Shakespeare loved iambic pentameter because it sounds very close to natural, heart-felt speech': argh, this kind of thing (from Shakespeare's Globe website) drives me mad: someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/10-reasons...

Cover of a 1971 puffin post magazine with colourful cartoon illustration of a giant puffin head with a ladybird mooching along their beak, emerging from a green hedge looking up at cherry blossoms and insects, including a bee, a red admiral butterfly and something that looks like a kind of pink tea fish with lots of legs and wings flitting about above in a bright blue sky. In the top right corner, the title puffin post is hand lettered in hot pink psychedelic script

Last of a recent brilliant bundle of Puffin Post magazines.
Part of my pleasure in collecting them is sharing them here & seeing others enjoy them too.
Another glorious Jill McDonald illustration & a bright reminder that spring light always returns, as autumn dampens the air & lengthens the shadows

Australian & New Zealand Rare Book School 2026 Content from the State Library of New South Wales.

Aussies, Kiwis, and people of the Southeastern Hemisphere: I’m teaching ✨Pop Bibliography✨ at the Australian & New Zealand Rare Book School in Feb. 2026!! Applications are now open: www.sl.nsw.gov.au/preview-link...

YouTube video by Faculty of English, University of Oxford English Faculty Shakespeare Webinar with Emma Smith: The Comedy of Errors

Did you miss our recent #Shakespeare webinar on The Comedy of Errors? Watch the recording to catch up.

And don't forget to register for the next webinar on 6 Oct where Emma Smith will be exploring The Merry Wives of Windsor with Callan Davies. All welcome! youtu.be/l5OTG2OL2Hc

Donate to SUN AUTUMN-WINTER FOOD AND BABY BANK, organized by SUN Baby Bank Each school holidays we aim to curb the deficit left by the Welsh Labour government… SUN Baby Bank needs your support for SUN AUTUMN-WINTER FOOD AND BABY BANK

Hey guys! We could really do with some help bumping around our food bank fundraising as we’ve only raised £10 in the GFM for September. We feed kids when the government doesn’t by distributing packs of fresh fruit veg and meal making ingredients as well as gofund.me/4b297c14

On Tuesday, @tricialockwood.bsky.social will be at Conway Hall talking to Joe Dunthorne about her upcoming novel, 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶, in her only UK event for the book.

Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/patricia-l...

Just for balance: I’ve opted to go - for conversation, solidarity with beloved colleagues on the frontline etc, but I absolutely get the reasons not to, especially the reminder that this should not be normalised. Sorry this joyful affirmation of your scholarship is now so complicated

It’s a beautiful poem, Catherine.

Very pleased to see our Bee-ing Human film on the @leverhulme.ac.uk website. I will be sharing more from our science-humanities project on bee sentience soon as we finalise our bee book this autumn media.leverhulme.ac.uk/video/charle...

(The shoes - which are in @maacambridge.bsky.social - feature in chapter 3 of TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE, 'Leather/Wool', as not-Marlowe's, alongside a pair of not-Shakespeare's gloves. And SO MUCH MORE. Scheduled for publication two months today!)
(yes I know that leather isn't a textile...)

A photograph of a play in performance. A young man wearing black jeans, a grey jumper, and a dark red beanie, is crouching down beside a pit in the stage. He is looking at the skull being held up by an older man, standing in the pit, who is wearing a pale jacket stained with red earth and a hat on the back of his head.

A pair of very old brown leather shoes, one flat, one on its side, showing the sole. They have slashing and pinking to decorate the leather.

Thoughts on LEATHER
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hamlet (Paapa Essiedu) & Gravedigger (Ewart James Walters) @the-rsc.bsky.social 2016 & some C16 shoes, found @corpuscambridge.bsky.social. (Not Marlowe's. His father was a shoemaker, Shakespeare's a glover, printer Richard Field's a tanner.)

Publication day today 11 September 2025 www.panmacmillan.com/authors/ros-...

Text reads: Advice and support Romeo and Juliet is a dramatic fiction and its characters are not real people. Many people of all ages sometimes struggle with their mental health, and some will have suicidal thoughts. The websites listed here offer advice and support, particularly aimed at young people and those supporting them, in the UK. The Samaritans www.samaritans.org can be contacted on 116 123 for free (also in Ireland), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Shout www.giveusashout.org is a text-based crisis line for those struggling to cope and who need immediate help: text 85258. It is a free service for all the major UK mobile networks, available 24/7. Papyrus www.papyrus-uk.org is a suicide prevention charity. For support and advice, call 0800 068 41 41 or text 07786 209697 Monday–Friday 10am–10pm, weekends 2pm–10pm, bank holidays 2pm–5pm. CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) www.thecalmzone.net has a helpline 0800 585858 available 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, and many resources on the website, especially for peer-peer support, and for young men. Young Minds www.youngminds.org.uk has resources for young people and their adult support networks. In an emergency situation, if someone has taken steps to end their life or if you are worried for your own or someone else’s safety, always call 999 (UK) or go straight to A&E. Mental health emergencies are serious; asking for help isn’t wasting anyone’s time. Forced marriage continues to take place in many different communities, and can affect people of all genders. The websites listed here offer advice and support, and link to many other resources. Childline www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/crime-law/forced-marriage/ provides information and sources of support. Karma Nirvana www.karmanirvana.org.uk supports victims and survivors of Honour Based Abuse, including forced marriage, and campaigns to end it.

It's #WorldSuicidePreventionDay; it was really important to me when I wrote a new introduction to the New Cambridge Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet that I included a page of 'Advice and Support', which I hope might be useful for students, teachers, actors, readers... Here it is

Keep hearing some buzzing about performing Marlowe more... obviously we're doing Doctor Faustus twice in October so... you know... do the thing.
If you want to.
It's not like you're signing your life away.
In blood.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/beyondshakes...

My book is out in paperback TODAY. All about children’s books, which are the best and most important sort. bit.ly/4pdXMNt

The Shakespearean Graves project is up and running! Our social media game is a work in progress, but here's a short thread of #ShaxEpitaphs to whet your interest.

It’s all very odd. I mean, hard to know whether this is what we need newspaper opinion pieces for right now…?

Brilliant book. 👇

@the-rsc.bsky.social #BornWithTeeth

The Guardian view on Christopher Marlowe: it’s time to read him and honour him | Editorial Editorial: England’s second most famous playwright is the star of a new play. But his own works should be staged more, and he should be commemorated better

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - who would have predicted the Guardian to have a view on Christopher Marlowe?

Everyone - including your tutors - feels rushed for prep for the academic year

Hey - you can do this. Dammit - you love middlemarch. Don’t lose your mojo.