Annual Shakespeare fellow

The annual Dr Alice Griffin Shakespearean Fellowship brings experts in Shakespearean studies to the University of Auckland.

The Dr Alice Griffin Fellowship in Shakespearean Studies was established thanks to the generosity of Mr John Griffin, President of Blue Ridge Capital in New York.

Mr Griffin's donation to the Faculty of Arts established the scholarship in the name of his mother Dr Alice Griffin who held a PhD from Columbia University, served as associate editor and drama critic for Theatre Arts Magazine, and taught modern drama at the City University of New York.

Alice Griffin's ten books on theatre include Living Theater, Understanding Tennessee Williams, Understanding Arthur Miller, and Understanding Lillian Hellman. The latest of her four books on Shakespeare is Shakespeare's Women in Love.

The Dr Alice Griffin Shakespearean Fellowship brings experts in Shakespearean Studies to the University of Auckland and allows Arts students to benefit from their teachings. A public lecture is given by each visiting fellow.

2024 Alice Griffin Fellow: Rosalind Smith

Rosalind Smith, the 2024 Alice Griffin Fellow

Rosalind Smith is Chair of English and Director of the Centre for Early Modern Studies at Australian National University. Professor Smith is a leading international expert on the sonnet, the sonnet sequence, marginal annotation and the literary complaint. Her work is at the forefront of the material turn in early modern studies. Her books include Sonnets and the English Woman Writer (Palgrave, 2005), Material Cultures of Early Modern Women’s Writing (Palgrave, 2014), Early Modern Women’s Complaint: Gender, Form, Politics (Palgrave, 2020) and a forthcoming monograph on Early Modern Women’s Complaint Poetry with OUP in 2025. She co-edits the journal Parergon and is general editor of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Early Modern Women’s Writing.

Previous fellows

  • Professor David McInnis, 2023
  • Dr Rob Conkie, 2022
  • Professor Bridget Escolme, 2019
  • Professor Liam Semler, 2018
  • Professor Deanne Williams, 2018
  • Professor Peter Holbrook, 2017
  • Professor Gil Harris and Professor Madhavi Menon, 2016
  • Professor Peter Holland, 2015
  • Dr Emma Smith, 2014
  • Professor Stephen Orgel, 2013
  • Professor Lorna Hutson, 2012
  • Professor John Kerrigan, 2011
  • Professor Tiffany Stern, 2010
  • Professor Gary Taylor, 2009
  • Professor Jean Howard, 2008
  • Professor Adrian Poole, 2007
  • Professor Dympna Callaghan, 2006
  • Professor Andrew Gurr, 2005