My first days as co-editor!
Thank you to both Katie Arthur and Harriet Thompson for their work together as editors of the King’s English Blog – replacing them is going to be a tough ask!
Picking up from Katie and Harriet’s final blog (see Community and Connection: Editors in Conversation), I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Graham Fifoot and I am the new co-editor of the King’s English Blog working alongside George Kowalik.
I am currently in the 4th year of a PhD within the English department and my research interests focus on Shakespeare and popular culture in the three parts of Henry VI.
I have a varied background. My first BSc degree was in Multimedia and Computer Science, before later studying Classics and Classical Art and Archaeology (MA). I additionally completed an English language and literature MA in 2017 and was awarded the King’s College London Cultural Award for 2018. Therefore, I can boast I have studied across disciplines as part of the KCL community for many years!
As the new co-editor alongside George Kowalik, I will be looking to promote the English department’s work, through introductions and information about events, new research projects, conferences, as well as help circulate creative work, such as fiction or poetry. I have spent my first days as co-editor looking back through previous posts and establishing connections for future posts. I have also been getting familiar with the available software, logins and ways to communicate. On a personal level, running the blog and working with social media is going to be stimulating. It is an exciting opportunity to commission work from staff and students.
I believe the blog can offer opportunities and spaces to connect with others, for example the recent Thinking in Crisis Times project that was shared during the pandemic. Blogs help share ways of reading and thinking about texts, they also encourage someone to look beyond the confines of their subject area. I think seeing the wide-ranging work that people are doing can help us better appreciate and gain a deeper understanding of how our own work fits into the broader research picture.
At this time, I believe the function of the blog and social media is naturally evolving due to an increasing reliance on the technology. In the long term, use of the blog and social media can only grow in importance, so potentially could reach out further both to and beyond the department. Undoubtedly, one positive from the pandemic is how it has helped highlight a developing reliance on social media as a community meeting place.
I hope the blog and social media will continue to sustain the sense of community spirit in the department. Almost certainly, the blog and social media will increasingly contribute towards forging and maintaining relationships with colleagues, while bring the added benefit of easy engagement with other people’s work, across different disciplines and periods.
We are always open to either short submissions ( 500-1000 words in length ) that could be reflective pieces or reviews, as well as longer pieces ( 1000-1500 words long ) that could be research topics, conversations, or interviews.
If you are interested in making a contribution or have any other questions, then please contact us via the shared blog email address blog.english.kcl@gmail.com.
Thank you … please keep a look out for updates!
Editorial Team,
Dept of English Blog,
King’s College London
graham.fifoot@kcl.ac.uk, george.kowalik@kcl.ac.uk
Blog posts on King’s English represent the views of the individual authors and neither those of the English Department, nor of King’s College London.
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