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Professor Liz Oakley-Brown
Professor in English LiteratureProfile
I teach and research fifteenth- and sixteenth-century writing in English. My methodological approach is generally from twenty-first century critical perspectives to ask 'Why should we care about this text now?'
While my research interests are varied, I mainly work on: Ovid in English; Tudor Gothic; Premodern Gothic; Surface Studies [a concept I coined with Rebecca Coleman in 2013); the Cultural Politics of Tudor translation; Robin Hood.
With Duncan Lees (Warwick University), I have co-edited a collection of essays called Translating Shakespeare: Access and Mediation (Palgrave 2025).
My most recent major single-authored publication is the book Shakespeare on the Ecological Surface (Routledge 2024) which has been favourably reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement, Shakespeare, Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism; Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies; Shakespeare Studies.
Currently, I am completing a new book about Tudor Gothic (Cambridge University Press, contracted 2026).
In 2026-27, I'm developing public engagement projects related to Shakespeare, soil and climate emergencies.
My Role
In 2026/ 27, I convene, teach seminars on and deliver lectures for the Year 1 module ENGL4001 Literature in Time: Continuity and Change, the Year 2 module ENGL5002 Medieval to Early Modern, and the Final year ENG6001 Dissertation module. I also lecture and lead seminars on the Final year module ENGL5005 Critical Practice and lead workshop seminars on the MA modules ENGL7002 World and ENGL7004 Body. I deliver lectures for the Final year modules ENGL6002 Contemporary Literature and ENGL6008 Shakespeare.
I am currently supervising: MA dissertations on fairy tales and verisimilitude and gothic girlhood 1950-1970; co-supervising a PhD thesis on biofictions about Tudor queens. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you are interested in pursuing postgraduate study that speaks to any aspect of my teaching and research interests.
I am English Literature's Programme Lead.
Career Details
I joined the Department in 2006. I completed my BA, MA and PhD at Cardiff University. I gained my PGCtHE from Aberystwyth University (2003). I have previously taught at Aberystwyth University (2001-4) and Canterbury Christ Church University (2004-6).
During my career at Lancaster University, I have held the following administrative roles: Part One Director (2007-10); Employability Officer (2011-14); Convenor of the MA in English Literary Studies (2015-21); Department Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) [In 2022, I was awarded the Dean's Award for Outstanding Contribution in EDI.]; English Literature Programme Lead (2025- )
External Roles
I was co-editor of Literature Compass: Renaissance (March 2015-May 2016)
I was a member of the Renaissance Editorial Board for Literature Compass (September 2009-15)
I served as an elected member of the Society for Renaissance Studies Council (May 2008-2014)http://www.rensoc.org.uk/), and I was the acting Membership Secretary 2011-12 . From 2012-14, I chaired the judging panel for the Renaissance Studies article prize.
Additional Information
I co-convene the Northern Premodern Seminar (formerly the Northern Premodern Seminar): http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/northern-premodern-seminar/
The Northern Premodern Seminar is currently in abeyance but will resume in the not-too-distant future.
I am a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA).
PhD Supervision Interests
I have supervised successful postgraduate research on: Ovid and crip/queer queer theory; sixteenth-century occult poetics; Long Meg of Westminster and Robin Hood narratives; early modern mazes; transcultural migrations and Chinese identities; surrealist art and classical myth; early modern revenge and biopolitics. I would especially welcome research students working on the following aspects of late medieval, early modern and premodern texts (broadly defined): classical mythology in anglophone cultures; ecology; embodiment, I am happy to co-supervise Creative Writing theses.
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Shrewsbury Quarry: excavating the past; imagining the future
17/11/2018 → 18/11/2018
Research
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The Surface Studies Network
01/06/2013 → …
Other
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Corpus Research in Early Modern English
01/10/2011 → …
Research
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Shakespearean Surfaces: Reading, Writing and Performing Superficiality in Sixteenth-Century England.
01/08/2008 → …
Other
'Shakespearean Soil Imaginaries: Playing with Clay'
Oral presentation
Litfest 2026
Other
Shakespearean Soil Imaginaries: Creative Encounters with Climate Emergencies
Oral presentation
"Soil Time in Shakespeare'
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
“A Thousand Premodern Plateaus?: Teaching Beyond the Medieval and Early Modern Canon”
Oral presentation
Shakespeare’s Samphire and the Poetics of Planetary Precarity
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
‘Rotting’, ‘Reverence’ and Cymbeline’s Creative Engagements with Climate Emergencies'
Oral presentation
Tudor Gothic
Oral presentation
Castle Summer Seminar
Symposium
Castle Summer Seminar Series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
The Castle Annual Symposium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Beyond Shakespeare Live [podcast]
Other
Shakespeare, Race and Pedagogy [podcast]
Oral presentation
Shakespeare’s Soilscape Tragedies
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Shakespeare's Soilscape Tragedies
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
New Year, New World?
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Department of English Literature and Creative Writing: 60th Anniversary Exhibition
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Dispatches
Invited talk
Parchment, Paper, Print, Ipad: Marlowe's Ecocodicological Elegies
Oral presentation
'Living Walls'
Oral presentation
Urban Surfaces: Living Walls
Invited talk
Christopher Marlowe's E(rot)ic Verse
Oral presentation
The DAPHNE Project": A Celebration of Anne Hirsch-Henecke’s County South sculpture Daphne
Symposium
The Daphne Project
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Siting Shakespeare's Seaweed
Oral presentation
Making Shakespeare Pay
Oral presentation
Castellations - Diverse Conversations in Late Medieval and Early Modern Castles
Other
Literature Compass (Journal)
Editorial activity
Renaissance Studies (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Ashgate (Publisher)
Publication peer-review
Translation Studies (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Literature Compass (Journal)
Editorial activity
- Centre for Sustainable Soils
- FHASS Health Hub
- Literature, Science and Medicine
- Literature, Space and Place
- Shakespeare Programme
- Transcultural Writing, Practice and Research Network