The latest episode of Foreword, a podcast from the Faculty of Humanities, explores the complex relationship between women and books in 16th and 17th century England.

Leah Knight, Associate Professor with the Department of English Language and Literature, shares how her early work in botany and books evolved to examine women’s participation in early book culture through the figures of Anne Clifford (1590-1676) and Hester Pulter (1605-1678).

Knight also talks about her most recent project, which examines the long-neglected manuscripts of the poet Hester Pulter. Knight’s The Pulter Project, a digital project with Wendy Wall of Northwestern University in Illinois, United States, was selected as the year’s best project in digital scholarship by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender in 2018.

Episodes are released every Wednesday on Apple, Google Podcasts and Podbean. Transcripts are being made available on the Faculty of Humanities website.