Laura Marcus Workshop 1 MT23: On Illness and Life-Writing

Friday 27 October (3rd Week), 10.30am - 12.30pm

History of the Book Room, St Cross Building (English Faculty), Manor Road, OX1 3UL 

Please note that this event is ONLY open to current members of the University of Oxford.

Join us for the first Laura Marcus Life-Writing Workshop of the academic year.

This workshop will focus on life-writing and illness, led by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and Hermione Lee in conversation. Participants will be asked to read extracts from Virginia Woolf's 'On Being Ill' (1926) and Robert's new book Metamorphosis: A Life in Pieces (2023).

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst is a  Professor of English Literature and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His books include Becoming Dickens (2011), which was awarded the Duff Cooper Prize, The Story of Alice (2015), which was shortlisted for the Costa Prize, The Turning Point: A Year That Changed Dickens and the World (2021), and Metamorphosis: A Life in Pieces (2023). He writes regularly for publications including the Times, Spectator, and Literary Review, while radio and television appearances include Start the Week, the Today Programme, BBC Breakfast, and The Culture Show. He has acted as the historical consultant on BBC productions of Jane Eyre, Emma, Great Expectations and Dickensian, and both of the Enola Holmes films for Netflix. He has judged the Man Booker Prize and the Baillie Gifford Prize, and in 2015 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The second Laura Marcus Workshop of term (on International Life-Writing) will take place on 17 November.

Please Note: Workshop places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis with priority given to members of the English Faculty. Places will be confirmed on Monday of 3rd Week (23 October), when readings will be sent out. Tea/coffee and cake will be served during the workshop.

BOOKING HAS NOW CLOSED.

This event will take place in the St Cross building on Manor Road (more information). Attendees are advised to wear face coverings while indoors and to use an LFT prior to the event.

Please address any queries to our events administrator.