I was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1973, and grew up in Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, and England. I received my first two degrees from University College London, and my PhD, which examined the relationship between copyright law and literature in England between 1880 and 1914, from Cambridge University. I have taught at Nottingham University, the Institute of English Studies (University of London), and since 2006, as an Associate Lecturer with the Open University. In June 2007 I was appointed to a lectureship in the English Department.
Most of my teaching has been in 19th and 20th century British, American and South Asian literature, with a particular interest in the history of the book and the history of reading. Currently I am module chair for AA316 (The Nineteenth-Century Novel), and I have written teaching material for a number of other modules, including A815 (The MA in English) and A230 (Reading and Studying Literature). Outside of the Open University, I also teach the ‘The Historical Reader’ seminar series, part of the MA in the History of the Book. Follow this link for more information.
The main thrust of my research is in nineteenth and twentieth century British and American literature, with a particular interest in the history of the book. Within this broad and inclusive subject, I have three specific areas of interest: (1) the relationship between authors and publishers; (2) the history of reading; and (3) the relationship between copyright law and literature. In addition, I also work on South Asian writing in English.
I am director of one of the Open University’s most inclusive research projects, ‘The Reading Experience Database, 1450-1945’ (RED). Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, RED records experiences of reading in the British Isles (or by British subjects abroad) over five centuries. The database is constantly growing, and there are currently over 30,000 entries. Partner projects have been established in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Follow this link for more details of RED, and how you could contribute to it.
I am the director of the Open University’s Book History Research Group, one of the main research groups in the English Department. You can find more about the Book History Research Group’s activities by following this link.
The group’s seminar series meets regularly at the Institute of English Studies; information about the 2010-11 series on ‘Reading and the First World War’ is available here.
I am an active member of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP), having served as a jury member and chair for the DeLong Book History Prize (2006-2009). I have been awarded a Grolier Club Library Research Fellowship (2006), and an Edith Wharton Society Research Collections Fellowship (2007). I am also a working group member of the European COST-Action funded ‘Women Writers in History’ project.
My articles have appeared in leading scholarly journals, such as Victorian Studies, Book History, Publishing History, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Journal of Victorian Culture, English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, Primerjalna Književnost (Comparative Literature)and The Yearbook of English Studies. I regularly review for a number of peer-reviewed journals. I am currently writing a book on the Anglo-Florentine writer and critic, Vernon Lee (1856-1935). Follow this link for a list of my publications.
I am willing to supervise PhD students wishing to work in any area of book history in Britain, America or South Asia after 1800; or on Edith Wharton, Vernon Lee, or Joseph Conrad; or more generally on Victorian literature and culture.
