Y’all. Lillian Smith was a southern badass. And this beautifully written book by @kerileighmerritt.bsky.social reminds us of her dedication to civil & human rights even when her life was threatened. Her story is one for our own time. Pre-order now.
A poster for an event. Text reads as follows: New Welsh Voices in English Literature 25th March, 1-2pm KH152 Sian Round (Swansea) Sterling Brown, Storytelling, and the Southern Tour
I'm giving the next talk in the New Welsh Voices in English Literature series on Wednesday 25th March at 1pm. The talk is in person in KH152 or on Zoom (message me for a link).
I'll be sharing some research from my new project on the Southern tour, talking about Sterling Brown.
A poster for a research seminar happening in Swansea Text on the poster reads as follows: New Welsh Voices in English Literature 4th March, 1-2pm KH036 Jamie Harris (Aberystwyth) "Refiguring Welsh Utopias" All Welcome For more information, email sian.round@swansea.ac.uk
For the next seminar in the New Welsh Voices in English Literature series, we are delighted to welcome Jamie Harris from Aberystwyth, who will be giving a paper titled "Refiguring Welsh Utopias." March 4th at 1pm, in Keir Hardie 036 or online. Get in touch if you want a link!
Excited to share the CfP for @amendproject.bsky.social ‘s Early Modern European Neurodivergence conference happening in Swansea this August! Info here: drive.google.com/file/d/1TQpB...
Thank you, Amanda!
Thank you!
Today I am 29. Rail replacement buses have made my commute 3 hours each way today but getting to listen to talks from @allo-nothing.bsky.social and fellow contributors to the Edinburgh Companion to the Regionao Magazine have more than made up for it. Celebrations forthcoming.
Thank you, Matthew!
providing added value for readers in a way that feels natural to the central discussion. Well argued and logically ordered; a pleasure to read.
Beyond its exemplary deployment of periodical studies methodologies to illuminate the production and reception contexts of Smith’s novel, the article situates her efforts within the history of popular conceptions of “Southern” literature and identity,
cultivating a readership for her novel Strange Fruit. The nuance and deftness of the analysis across a range of types of magazine content is notable, as is the careful manner in which Round articulates the considerable distinctions between the magazine and book iterations of Strange Fruit.
An exemplary periodical studies article that demonstrates the rich interpretive possibilities of studying literary texts in original periodical contexts. Round argues persuasively for the ways in which Smith’s editorial work and engagement with readers in South Today was central to creating and
Here is the prize committee's commendation for the article:
The Research Society for American Periodicals awards the 2024/25 Article Prize to Siân Round for “Lillian Smith’s Strange Fruit and Periodical Readerships,” published in the Journal of American Studies (2025).
The ideas in the article are developed further in my forthcoming book, The Serial South: The Little Magazine in the US South, with @ugapress.bsky.social.
Along with a $1000 cash prize and membership to RSAP, I will speak on the society's prize panel at the ALA Conference in Chicago in May.
I began working on Lillian Smith during my master's at Oxford in 2018 and I completed my first archival research for this article (and first archive trip ever!) at the University of Florida in the spring of 2019. It is an honour to be recognised for so many years of work.
My article "Lillian Smith's Strange Fruit and Periodical Readerships," published in the Journal of American Studies is the winner of the Research Society for American Periodicals 2024/5 Article Prize! The article is available to read open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
A poster for Bridget Bartlett's talk "gRace-Making in Early Modern English Literature." 4th February, 1-2pm in Keir Hardie 152 or on Zoom.
A poster for a seminar series: New Welsh Voices in English Literature. 4th Feb, 1-2pm - Bridget Bartlett, "gRace-Making in Early Modern English Literature" 4th Mar, 1-2pm - Jamie Harris, "Refiguring Welsh Utopias" 25th Mar, 1-2pm - Sian Round, "Sterling Brown, Storytelling, and the Southern Tour"
We've got another great series of talks coming up this term at Swansea for New Welsh Voices in English Literature!
Join us next week (4th Feb) in KH152 for Bridget Bartlett's paper "gRace Making in Early Modern English Literature". Message or email me for a Zoom link.
Happy to have received the latest issue of seventh quarry, where I have two poems published
A poster for a talk by Beth Pyner, "Encounter as Practice: A Feminist Approach to Intermediality."
This is happening today at 1pm! Message me for a link if you want to join online, or if you're in Swansea, see you in Keir Hardie 152.
A little piece I wrote a while back about Elizabeth McHenry's To Make Negro Literature and how it changed who I am as a researcher has just been published in JAS. Available here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Thanks Keri Leigh!
Back to my desk after an excellent week in beautiful Williamstown researching the Sterling A. Brown papers. One thing I didn't get to explore was Brown's vast record collection. Luckily, the brilliant archivists have made a playlist of it: open.spotify.com/playlist/26a...
I'm in Boston for MSA! My first American conference!
The book is in! No thanks to Leo
A cat sitting in front of a computer screen
Update: Leo no longer wants me to finish the book
Things are good but hectic! James and I just moved into our new house and I'm trying to get my book manuscript in by the end of the month. Yes absolutely let's get coffee when you're next in Cardiff!
I didn't! I've changed institutions since the conference so maybe she contacted my old email. How is she doing?
Announcing New Welsh Voices in English Literature - a new research series at Swansea!
I wanted to devote some of my @leverhulme.ac.uk trust fellowship to promoting work by other ECRs in Wales.
I'm really looking forward to these two talks this semester, with Bridget Bartlett and Beth Pyner.
Leo (Bloom) firmly agrees with you!