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Yes- I remember you said last year that you were organising the 700th anniversary of Boccaccio in June. How did that go?
It was good! We organised a lot of events and conferences and, on the actual anniversary, we had a big conference and exhibition. We’ve also worked on The Cambridge Companion to Boccaccio; Guyda and I have been editing that together along with Stephen Milner, another professor at Manchester. That will come out next summer, after around four years of work!
I STUMBLED ONTO BOCCACCIO BECAUSE I WANTED TO WORK ON THE TRANSMISSION OF LITERATURE.
Is there anyone, an old professor or someone in your personal life, who inspires you in your research?
The professor I went to talk to when I was thinking about my MA dissertation. I went on to do my PHD with him, he mentored me during my post-doctoral research and was a colleague when I was at Leeds. Professor Brian Richardson – he’s amazing! I have got all of his books at home, he’s always been very inspiring and he’s pushed me academically. I also work very closely with Guyda Armstrong at the University of Manchester’s Italian department. She’s very inspiring and a good friend of mine.
What are you most proud of in your work?
I am very proud of my book. I haven’t written much quantity-wise and I’m proud of it because this was obviously a lot of work over a long period of time. Through the Boccaccio anniversary year, I’ve been meeting a lot of people who have actually read it, which still surprises me! It’s also come up in various publications by other academics, which I see and think, “Oh, somebody has read something of mine!” It’s rather nice!
IL DIPARTIMENTO