Ben Wilkinson-Turnball

My doctoral research explores the relationship between women’s writing and writing surfaces between 1580 and 1830. Much has been written about the importance of female writing tools (needles, pens). However, little critical attention has been given to their associated writing surfaces (paper, fabric, stone). My project is the first full-length study of women’s writing surfaces, and seeks to trace how women’s interactions with a variety of different writing surfaces developed across the period.

Outside of my work as feminist literary historian, I am also a contributing editor working on Swift’s later political writings for the Cambridge Works of Jonathan Swift, and a regular reviewer for Journal of Eighteenth Century Studies.