Dr Nicola Wilson, Professor in Book and Publishing Studies, University of Reading
I have always loved reading. Growing up I used to spend many happy hours rummaging through the public library’s shelves. I remember the day a supply teacher came into my English class at high school with a list of classic authors he thought we ‘should’ know about. It was a challenge and provocation – no one had shown any interest in my personal reading before – and I started to work through the list, questioning it and arguing as I went along.
I am now a Professor in Book and Publishing Studies and my research focusses on the history of reading and publishing. I am interested in understanding more about what people actually read in the past, which is not necessarily the small number of texts that are remembered, canonised, or taught in literature programmes today.
This site recovers the history of Britain’s first celebrity book club. Please do get in touch.
https://www.reading.ac.uk/english-literature/aboutus/Staff/n-l-wilson.aspx
The bibliographical aspect of this project has been funded by a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013-17) and a University of Reading Research Fellowship (2022-3).
This is an academic research project and not intended for commercial re-use.