Dr Joanna Turner
Literary Detective (newly minted PhD) @lboroenglish.bsky.social
I know a little bit about Marie Corelli, #19thcentury popular fiction and #genealogy
orcid.org/0000-0003-4597-4354
lboro.ac.uk/subjects/english/st…
- Reposted by Dr Joanna Turner
- #EnglishCreates: Futures continues with a blog on 'Close Reading on the Beach' by Dr Rachel Murray (University of Bristol): 'Looking closely in this way helps us to slow down and tune into what is in front of us...' universityenglish.ac.uk/the-sea-the-... #EnglishStudies #Ecocriticism
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerMy new article was published earlier this week!! It focuses on the gynaecological health of Mrs Glover, the subject of several letters in Elizabeth Gaskell's correspondence between 1853–54, and reveals Glover's original patient record that I found at the wonderful @bharchives.bsky.social. ✨
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerDid you read or review a great new book on #19thC periodical studies? Was it published in the last year? If yes, nominate it for a Colby Book Prize! We're still accepting nominations through 31 January. [NB: For tax reasons, authors *cannot* self-nominate.] More info here:
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerI was going through some old files and found these scans from Lewis Carroll's handwritten manuscript "Alice’s Adventures Underground" (1862). He originally gave it to Alice Liddell as a Christmas gift. The full text was available at the BL before the infamous hack.
- Reposted by Dr Joanna Turner"Alternate Histories of the Body" is next week! I'm highlighting our workshop, "Experiencing Academia Through the Body" by Francesca Young Kaufman (11:15 AM GMT). Join us if you're interested in neuroscience-based tools for managing academic stress. The workshop is free and online. #AcademicSky 1/4
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerPatrick Morgan on Contesting Earth's History in the Review of English Studies: 'beautifully detailed, intricately researched, and compelling'. What more could you wish for? The review, for those with access: academic.oup.com/res/advance-...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna Turner'Few feelings are more thrilling for a literature scholar than unearthing an archival gem ...' Our own Jade French writes for @theconversation.com about three newly discovered Virginia Woolf stories:
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerVery much looking forward to sharing my work on pregnancy and motherhood following gynaecological surgery in the mid-19th century as part of this fantastic programme! It is online and free - links in posts below about how to register. Thank you for including me @voicesofmotherhood.bsky.social !! 🫀💫
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerDay 5: Diversity & Inclusion An archivist and museum specialist from @shakespearebtrust.bsky.social collaborated to review their approaches to cataloguing, access and descriptive practice: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sec... #Archives #EYAInclusion #Diversity 📷Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerOther updates include finishing a book chapter in an edited collection on Marie Corelli. My chapter is “Marie Corelli: Bestselling Decadent Author” and the edited collection is Marie Corelli in Context: Cultural Currency, Popular Fiction and the Literary Marketplace. Excited for it!
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerIt was, quite honestly, the high point of the summer getting to put together this podcast with @nathankhensley.bsky.social for Studies in the Novel on his book ‘Action without Hope’ www.studiesinthenovel.org/interact/pod...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerAn exciting conclusion to my time as Research Fellow on the @mediaandepidemics.bsky.social project! Dr Melissa Dickson & I are co-writing a book ‘A British Literary Contagion: ‘Russian Flu’ and Popular Culture at the Fin de Siècle’ for the @manchesterup.bsky.social @sshmedicine.bsky.social series🦠
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerExcellent start to 6 months of showing how and why English Studies matters so much to all of us #EnglishCreates from @univeng.bsky.social and lots of our brilliant colleagues
- #EnglishCreates: Futures kicks off with the first in a series of brilliantly insightful blogs by Professor Ralph Pite on the subject of English Studies and 'environments' These will prove how important English studies are in the current polycrisis: universityenglish.ac.uk/englishcreat...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerThe deadline to apply for BAMS/ MSA in Loughborough, July 1-4, 2026, is now exactly 1 week away!
- Important news: the deadline for the joint BAMS/MSA conference in Loughborough has been extended to December 29, 2025! You can review the CFP, and find links to the submission platform, here. www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerNew Special Issue of Victorian Popular Fictions Journal, edited by @helenaesser.bsky.social and @drclaireocall.bsky.social alert ‼️ The issue explores Victorian popular fiction and culture as key sites for negotiating gender and sexual non-conformity, with a focus on the concept of the ‘third sex’.
- I’m bursting with pride to say I passed my viva @lboroenglish.bsky.social last week! Thank you to my examiners @andrewkingc19.bsky.social & @drclaireocall.bsky.social for such a positive experience and my supervisors @profsarahparker.bsky.social & @braddonite.bsky.social for a truly memorable day!
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerIf you like #Victorian popular fiction, #Egyptomania or #19thCentury Art, I hope you'll like my article! I loved my editors! @vpfa.bsky.social @bavs-uk.bsky.social @19birkbeck.bsky.social @ncsascholars.bsky.social @issegyptomania.bsky.social @mariecorelli.bsky.social @edinburghup.bsky.social
- ‘Marie’ Christmas, Victorianists! Eleanor Dobson and I have co-edited ‘Marie Corelli Reconsidered’, a special issue of Victoriographies. It features @janetteleaf.bsky.social Adam Lewis Smith, Keiko Kiriyama, Stephen Edwards, and our own detective work into the authorship of The Twin Soul (1887) 🔍
- ‘Marie’ Christmas, Victorianists! Eleanor Dobson and I have co-edited ‘Marie Corelli Reconsidered’, a special issue of Victoriographies. It features @janetteleaf.bsky.social Adam Lewis Smith, Keiko Kiriyama, Stephen Edwards, and our own detective work into the authorship of The Twin Soul (1887) 🔍
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerEven more time to get Weird with us @lboroenglish.bsky.social in July 2026!
- Important news: the deadline for the joint BAMS/MSA conference in Loughborough has been extended to December 29, 2025! You can review the CFP, and find links to the submission platform, here. www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerI wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerWonderful #Tiles in the chancel at St Oswald's, Ashbourne, part of the refitting by George Gilbert Scott. Such intricate patterns, & a fascinating study of them by Rita Wood! victorianweb.org/art/design/c...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerLook on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Radclyffe Hall and Lady Una Troubridge rendered in papier-mâché. A masterpiece, I'm sure you will agree.
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerDoctoral Researcher, Liam Young, is co-organising the first @bacls.bsky.social graduate conference, held at the Uni of Leeds on 20 May 2026. Participants will be invited to contribute to a special issue of the journal Alluvium. Deadline for abstracts: 4 January 2026. CFP here: bacls.org/news/188/
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerI'm giving a short talk about my new book, The Help Deficit and the Stories We Tell to Dispel It, in my department's research seminar series on 3rd December, 4.15 pm - 5,30 pm. It's hybrid so let me know if you'd like the Teams link.
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerThis week I submitted my PhD thesis! ✨I have loved this project and feel so lucky to have spent the last 3 years researching & writing. I have found new narratives about the realities of women’s reproductive health inside and outside of medicine, and uncovered histories of real lived experiences 🩺📚✍🏼
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerThis open letter to COP30 calling for the arts and humanities to be central to responses to the climate crisis chimes with the current research project of our Vice Chancellor’s Independent Research Fellow @hrmilligan.bsky.social www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/op...
- It’s research seminar eve! Looking forward to this session with the amazing @frankiedytor.bsky.social and hearing all about their recent work! Sign up to attend viaTeams with a DM @culturalcurrents.bsky.social
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerI helped an escaped convict remove his shackles when I was a boy and now because of that act he is secretly paying for me to become a gentleman. Never stop grinding
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerOur next #RSVPDigiEvent is coming up on Friday, 21 November! We'll hear from the editors of 3 top Victorian studies journals (including VPR's own kmalonephd.bsky.social) on "How to Get Published in an Academic Journal." Come one, come all! buff.ly/ydJkKAK
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerLast week we hosted two excellent research papers:@braddonite.bsky.social "We regret to learn that Miss Braddon is out of her mind": Insanity and the Lunatic Asylum in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Life and Fiction and Dr Nick Freeman,"Yesterday, When I was Mad": Arthur Symons and Writing from the Asylum
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerMy article on 'Brigid Brophy's Ethical Aestheticism: Form, Empathy, Reciprocity' is now out in the latest issue of Genre, in a special issue on Aestheticism Now! I'm looking forward to reading all the other articles. You can find the issue here: read.dukeupress.edu/genre/issue/...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerCan't wait for this to come out. Great collage Eleanor Dobson. Well Done @coppertapestry.bsky.social and all x
- Coming very, very soon… Eleanor Dobson and I have co-edited a special issue of @edinburghup.bsky.social Victoriographies - titled Marie Corelli Reconsidered. There are clues to its contents in the beautiful cover image, below… we can’t wait for the work of our contributors to be out in the world!
- Coming very, very soon… Eleanor Dobson and I have co-edited a special issue of @edinburghup.bsky.social Victoriographies - titled Marie Corelli Reconsidered. There are clues to its contents in the beautiful cover image, below… we can’t wait for the work of our contributors to be out in the world!
- My article revealing Marie Corelli’s hidden decade of pseudonymous periodical publications is now available to read in this fantastic FREE issue of Victorian Periodicals Review! @vpreditors.bsky.social @rs4vp.org @lboroenglish.bsky.social
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerYou can now get hold of my book Form and Modernity in Women’s Poetry in paperback, for a mere £34.39 in the Routledge sale (isn't that about the price of a flat white in London these days?)
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerOur next speaker in the Science and Imagination panel at #VPFAExtremes is Bridget Morgan, with her paper 'The Rejuvenated Spinster: An Alternative Narrative of Ageing in Marie Corelli’s The Young Diana: An Experiment of the Future (1918)'
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerWe had a fantastic afternoon at graduation today! Huge congratulations to our excellent graduates, and to our prize winners!
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerA few more snaps from the prize ceremony 👏🥂🥳🍾🎉
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerOn our Brontës and Relationships panel, we have Kiera Clark discussing the extreme consequences of restricting female autonomy, focussing on Bertha Mason. Various forms of the gothic are central to this analysis #VPFAExtremes
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerAfter talking dinosaurs and nineteenth-century literature at the @vpfa.bsky.social annual conference #VPFAExtremes, we're on to Birmingham Library's nineteenth-century Shakespeare Library, which was surgically inserted into the modern building. Also a summer view from the rooftop garden.
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerKeynote 2 is Richard Fallon: Before De-Extinction: Encountering Prehistoric Animals in Victorian Popular Fiction. #VPFAExtremes
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerOur third paper in the Braddon panel is also on 'Lady Audley's Secret'. Anna-Maria Grill: "The Mad-Doctress and her Patients: Negotiating Female Medical Agency in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 'Lady Audley’s Secret'". #VPFAExtremes
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerThe second paper in the Braddon panel is on one of my favourite novels of the Victorian Era: 'Lady Audley's Secret'. Marta Shevchenko's paper is delivered online from Kharkiv, Ukraine is called "Vanishing Women: Anorexic Metaphors and Psychological Extremes in 'Lady Audley’s Secret'". #VPFAExtremes
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerI had the best time presenting this paper! It was such a great panel to be on - by a *wild* coincidence, we had two separate papers, featuring two separate books that both just so happened to have a character with the last name of Tempest, and someone accidentally selling their soul... #VPFAExtremes
- Next we’ve got @ebutler-way.bsky.social talking about the legacies of Jane Eyre in A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott, particularly the role of fate #VPFAExtremes
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerThe Sappho panel today was excellent. #VPFAExtremes
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerI've finally joined Blue-sky on the train, on my way to #vpfaextremes. It's been a while since I followed a # but I'm looking forward to it! Obviously finishing my paper on the train.
- Reposted by Dr Joanna Turner"Ouida" has been selected as the runner-up to the VPFA Second Book Prize 2025! Thank you very much to the lovely scholars who supported this book and for these wonderful, generous reviews! ✨
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerExciting new issue of VPFJ is now out in the world, featuring my review for Helena Esser's fantastic Steampunk London: Neo-Victorian Urban Space and Popular Transmedia Memory. I'm a big fan. Get your libraries on it. @vpfa.bsky.social @helenaesser.bsky.social doi.org/10.46911/TWO...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerAnyway, an hour or so investigating this very topic, and many other more interesting ones regarding Elizabeth Taylor and Angel, is coming this weekend/next week on Backlisted. We are all really excited about sharing it with you. Subscribe! SUBSCRIBE! @backlisted.bsky.social
- Reposted by Dr Joanna Turner@drsarahparker.bsky.social’s edited volume Michael Field in Context is due to be published by Cambridge University Press in September!
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerJoin us for BAVS Talks 2025 celebrating the 25th anniversary of BAVS UK; Friday 27 June, 2-5:30pm at the University of Leicester. Featuring talks from Victorianists + Postgrad Poster Session & Networking Reception - Register now: » bavs.ac.uk/event/bavs-t...
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerThis Friday, @sadiseshiah.bsky.social is joining an expert panel discussion after the final performance of Jon Crewe’s play about women and ageism, ‘Go Gently’, which is playing at The Drayton Arms Theatre. If you’re in or near London, it’s not quite sold out yet: www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk
- Reposted by Dr Joanna TurnerTheatre Royal, Peter St, Manchester dressed up for the Diamond Jubliee of Queen Victoria in 1897. The production on stage was The Sorrows of Satan an 1895 Faustian novel by Marie Corelli. #Manchester #History #HistoryMatters
