News Collection

The English Association is delighted to announce that the recipient of the 2020 Beatrice White Prize is Professor Leonard Neidorf. The Editors of the Year’s Work in English Studies, wish to recognise his important contributions to the field, including his article 'Wealhtheow and Her Name: Etymology, Characterization and Textual Criticism' (Neophilologus, 102, no 1 (January 2018): 75-89).

Leonard Neidorf is Professor of English at Nanjing University, where he teaches courses on medieval literature and the history of the English language. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his B.A. from New York University. He is the author of The Transmission of Beowulf: Language, Culture, and Scribal Behavior (Cornell University Press, 2017) and the editor of The Dating of Beowulf: A Reassessment (Boydell & Brewer, 2014), which was named an Outstanding Academic Title by CHOICE. With Rafael J. Pascual and Tom Shippey, Neidorf co-edited Old English Philology: Studies in Honour of R.D. Fulk (Boydell & Brewer, 2016). His articles have appeared in such journals as ELH, English Studies, Tolkien Studies, Modern Philology, Anglo-Saxon England, and Journal of Germanic Linguistics.

The Beatrice White Award is awarded to the best scholarly article noticed in The Years Work in English Studies (YWES) in the fields of English Literature before 1590. The judging process is carried out by the YWES editors after input and recommendation of YWES Contributors in relevant fields, during a particular given year.

Professor Beatrice White, for whom the prize is named, was a well-loved and respected academic, interested particularly in mediaeval and renaissance English literature. She was also a creative teacher and a very active and long-standing member of the English Association.

Visit http://bit.ly/BWPrize for more information.

We are delighted to welcome two new members to the Secondary Education Committee.

Dr Corinne Fowler: "I am Director of the Centre for New Writing, which seeks to diversify literary voices beyond the metropolitan mainstream. I specialise in contemporary writing by black and Asian Britons (concentrating on regional writing, literary economy and rurality) with an additional specialism in travel writing. I am author of Chasing Tales: Travel Writing, Journalism and the History of British Ideas about Afghanistan (Rodopi, 2008), co-author of Postcolonial Manchester: Diaspora Space and the Devolution of Literary Culture (MUP, 2013), and co-editor of Travel and Ethics (Routledge, 2013). My forthcoming book is a critical-creative study called Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural Britain's Colonial Histories (Peepal Tree Press).

I lead an Arts Council/Heritage Lottery project called 'Colonial Countryside: Reinterpreting National Trust Houses'. As part of my research (see below) I regularly interview writers (including Amiri Baraka, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, Tracie Morris, Bali Rai, Michael Horovitz, Ben Okri and Jon McGregor) at literary festivals. Recordings can be found by visiting the Centre for New Writing.

I am Research Environment Director for the College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities and Research Impact Coordinator for the School of Arts. I chair the Literary Leicester Festival Fringe."

Sarah Mullin is the Deputy Head of Priory School, a co-educational independent school for children aged 6 months to 18 years in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

She is currently completing her Doctorate in Education with Newman University.

Sarah is passionate about education and feels that education has the power to open doors and change lives. As a highly skilled practitioner who is committed to driving social change, Sarah has helped thousands of children to maximise their learning potential enabling them to achieve academic and pastoral success which has increased their future life choices. Sarah enjoys leading CPD sessions for aspiring, training and experienced teachers at schools, colleges and universities nationwide and she has mentored educational professionals all across the UK, many of whom have progressed professionally to become educational leaders themselves.

Sarah is proud to be a Founding Fellow of The Chartered College of Teachers, a Fellow of the RSA, a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. She is also a Chartered Teacher of English, a Chartered Manager and a Teaching and Learning Academy school leader. As an inspirational educationalist, Sarah has contributed to educational texts and her own book is due to be published in 2019. Of all her achievements and accolades, Sarah credits becoming a mother to her three children as her proudest achievement in life.

Chaired by Jane Campion, the Secondary Education Committee aims to raise the profile of the English subjects in schools; disseminate information to support the teachers of English; and support excellent English teaching in schools across the full age range and sectors of secondary education.