Deanne Williams

Deanne Williams
Born
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanadian
OccupationProfessor
SpouseTom Bishop
Academic background
EducationBA, 1992, English Literature and Religious Studies, University of Toronto
MPhil, 1994, Medieval English Literature, University of Oxford
PhD, English Literature, 2000, Stanford University
ThesisComing to Terms: the Trouble with French in Early Modern England (2000)
Academic advisorsStephen Orgel
Academic work
DisciplineMedieval and Early Modern Literature
Sub-disciplineShakespeare
InstitutionsYork University
Main interestsMedieval and Early Modern Girlhood
Notable worksThe French Fetish from Chaucer to Shakespeare (2004), Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood (2014)
Websitewww.deannewilliams.com

Deanne Williams is a Canadian author and literary scholar. She is a Professor in York University's Department of English. A pioneer in early modern Girls' studies, she has published research on Shakespeare's girl characters and girl performers in medieval and early modern England, as well as on the influence of French culture on English literature.

Early life and education

Williams was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and raised in Toronto, Ontario, where she attended the University of Toronto Schools. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Religious Studies from the University of Toronto, MPhil in Medieval English Studies from the University of Oxford, and PhD in English from Stanford University.[1]

Career

After earning her PhD, Williams joined the English Department at York University where she currently teaches Shakespeare and Drama. Her early research on Anglo-French literary relations won her the 2003 John Charles Polanyi Prize for literature.[2] In 2004, she published The French Fetish from Chaucer to Shakespeare with Cambridge University Press, which was awarded the Roland H. Bainton Prize for Best Book in Literature in 2005.[3] This book focused on England's relationship to French language, literature, and culture during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.[4] In 2005, she published Postcolonial Approaches to the European Middle Ages: Translating Cultures with Ananya Jahanara Kabir. This co-edited volume examined the European Middle Ages through the lens of Postcolonial Studies.[5]

Williams's current research is on medieval and early modern girlhood. In 2014, Williams published Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood which was the first scholarly examination of Shakespeare's girl characters.[6] In that year she was also promoted to Full Professor.[7] In 2017, she co-edited Childhood, Education, and the Stage in Early Modern England, published with Cambridge University Press, and was elected to the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada .[8][9] In 2018, Williams delivered the Alice Griffin Shakespeare Lecture at the University of Auckland.[10] In 2018, she was awarded a Killam Research Fellowship by the Canada Council for the Arts to complete her study of the history of girl actors in early English theatre, from Middle Ages to the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.[11] In 2019, she received the President’s Research Excellence Award from York University.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Deanne Williams". profiles.laps.yorku.ca. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "York U. professor named recipient of 2003 Polanyi Prize". news.yorku.ca. November 18, 2003. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  3. ^ "BACK MATTER". The Sixteenth Century Journal. 36 (4). 2005. JSTOR 20477691.
  4. ^ Coletti, Theresa (2008). "The French Fetish from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Deanne Williams". Speculum. 83 (4): 1058. doi:10.1017/S0038713400017796.
  5. ^ Merrils, A.H. (July 13, 2007). "Book Review: Postcolonial Approaches to the European Middle Ages: Translating Cultures". Early Medieval Europe. 15 (3): 356–359. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0254.2007.210_4.x.
  6. ^ Schechter, Laura (2016). "Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood by Deanne Williams (review)". ESC: English Studies in Canada. 42 (1–2): 237–241. doi:10.1353/esc.2016.0010. S2CID 164371873.
  7. ^ "FULL-TIME FACULTY APPOINTMENTS". calendars.registrar.yorku.ca. 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  8. ^ "Royal Society of Canada honours six York Professors in 2017". research.info.yorku.ca. 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  9. ^ "College of New Scholars 2017 Cohort" (PDF). Royal Society of Canada. 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  10. ^ Christian, Dionne (August 15, 2018). "Professor challenges 'it was illegal' belief on women performers in Shakespeare's day". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  11. ^ "York professor awarded Killam Research Fellowship to study girls' roles in early English theatre". yfile.news.yorku.ca. May 9, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  12. ^ "York University's research leaders celebrated on April 15 at special event". yfile.news.yorku.ca. April 21, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2020.