Tamworth, England, United Kingdom
I'm a academic (early modernist) and historical novelist. I'm an active researcher in these areas. I have been teaching in higher education since 2006. I've taught at Loughborough University, Birmingham City University, the University of Worcester and Newman University College, Birmingham. My research explores the cultural and literary representations of women's bodies and health in the early modern era (1500s to 1700s). I have written academic articles of the topic of pregnancy, menstruation, miscarriage. Most recently I have turned my research into historical novels. My debut, The Gossips' Choice, came out in April 2020 and its sequel, The Midwife's Truth, is due out in April 2023. I'm actively involved in public engagement and work with the National Civil War Centre in Newark to help diversity their exhibitions to feature the stories of more women. I love to work with the public and community groups. Please do get in touch if you are a group who'd like to have me come and give a talk on early modern women's lives or the history of medicine and midwifery, or a creative writing workshop on the same topics. I'm always happy to receive media enquiries. I've appeared on BBC's Countryfile and podcasts like The Rest is History, Killing Time, and Not Just the Tudors, and write for history periodicals like BBC History magazine, History Today, and Discover Your Ancestors.
I am a senior lecturer in English. I research literary and cultural representations of the reproductive female body. I am also an historical novelist. I am Programme Lead for our creative writing MA. See sararead.co.uk for more details.
I covered the teaching on an early modern drama module for one semester
I taught a module on the plays of William Shakespeare for a semester
I was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the Society for Renaissance Studies to continue my research into early modern women's health.
I taught on the English programme throughout my PhD research and beyond.