Amy Blaney

Biography

After graduating in 2007 with a first-class honours degree in English Literature from the University of Wales Aberystwyth, Amy spent several years working in business and administration before enrolling on the MA English Literatures programme at Keele in 2018. Amy stayed on at Keele to undertake her NWCDTP AHRC funded PhD, entitled 'King Arthur in British Literature, 1660-1815', under the supervision of Professor Nicholas Seager, Professor David Amigoni, and Professor David Matthews (University of Manchester). She passed her viva without correction in August 2024.

Whilst completing her PhD, Amy worked as an Associate Lecturer in English Literature at Staffordshire University, a Sessional Tutor in English Literature at Keele and a Research Development Officer within the Keele Doctoral Academy. She was also a P. J. C Field Visiting Fellow to the Centre for Arthurian Studies at the University of Bangor in 2023.

In addition to her work within the School of Humanities, Amy also works as a Teaching Assistant supporting students and facilitating skills development and engagement within Keele's Foundation Year Centre.

Research and scholarship

My doctoral thesis examined literary engagements with Arthurian legend across the long eighteenth-century, considering the ways in which reworkings of Arthur intervene in debates about historiography, gender, class, and national identity.

I am particularly interested in exploring nationalisation of cultural mythologies and in examining the intersections between gendered and national identities within my work.

My wider research interests include Arthurian literature, folklore and mythology, eighteenth and nineteenth-century medievalism, gender theory, cultural memory, literary explorations of ageing, and the intersections between literature and history.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

'A great many strange puppets: Queen Caroline, Merlin's Cave, and Symbolic Arthurianism in the Age of Reason', Arthurian Literature XXXVIII (2023), ed. Kevin S. Whetter and Megan G. Leitch

“There’s no such thing as a ‘faithful retelling’ of Arthurian legend”, The Conversation UK. First published 19 February 2021 [https://theconversation.com/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-faithful-retelling-of-the-arthurian-legend-155511]

FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS

Book Chapter: ‘The Arthurian Legend in British Literature, 1700-1830’, The Cambridge History of the Arthurian Legend, eds. Andrew Lynch & Raluca Radulescu (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024)

Book Contribution: ‘A Chronology of Lord Byron’s Life, Work & Times’, The Oxford Handbook of Lord Byron, eds. Alan Rawes & Jonathan Shears (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023)

Teaching

I am an Associate Fellow of Advance HE and have previously worked as an Associate Lecturer in English Literature at Staffordshire University and a Sessional Tutor in English Literature at Keele.

Topics taught include Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, poetry and drama from the medieval period to the present day, the eighteenth-century novel, and academic writing skills.

In the 2024/25 academic year, I am teaching on FIL-30019 British Social Realism and FIL-20001 Gender and the Cinematic Gaze.

Further information

Recent conference and events organisation

• Lead Project Officer, The PGR Café Retreat, Castleton Losehill Hall, 11-13 September 2023
• Researcher Development Officer, The PGR Café Retreat, Keele Doctoral Academy, 2022/3
• Organising Committee & Session Lead, Archival Skills for Postgraduate Researchers, 25 March 2022, Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum

Academic service

• Student Representative (HUM), Faculty Research Committee, 2022/23
• PGR Faculty Rep, School of Humanities 2022-2024
• Facilitator and Session Lead, Keele Researcher Summer School, 2021-2023
• Co-Editor and Finance Officer, Under Construction: The Postgraduate Journal for Keele Humanities and Social Sciences, 2019 – 2021
• Committee Member, Keele Humanities and Social Sciences Work in Progress Seminar Series, 2019-2021

Collaborations and grants awards

Collaboration

I am an advocate of open research and accessibility with higher education and have previously worked with Tamworth Castle & Archives and The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum to improve public access to their collections material through digitisation. I have also worked with The Brilliant Club and Higher Horizons programmes whose work supports students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities and to succeed when they get there.

Awards and honours

• The Centre for Arthurian Studies P J C Field Fellowship, 2023
• Bob Beattie Postgraduate Student of the Year Award, 2023
• International Arthurian Society British Branch Ray Barron Award, 2022 & 2023
• Literary Encyclopaedia Travel Award, 2022
• British Association of Romantic Studies Stephen Copley Research Award, 2020
• British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Postgraduate Bursary, 2020
• Best Overall Student on an English PGT Programme, Keele University, 2019/20

Grants

• Keele Key Fund (2023/24)
• Keele Doctoral Academy Peer-Led Initiative Funding (2022/23)
• NWCDTP Cohort Development Fund (2021)
• Keele English & Creative Writing Department Researcher Development Fund (2021 & 2022)
• NWCDTP Fieldwork and Conference Fund (2022 & 2023)
• NWCDTP AHRC PhD Studentship (2019-2023)