~ Media & Publications ~

PUNCTUATION IN THE WILD! 

Check out my free fortnightly newsletter on the role of dots & dashes in daily life from the genocide in Palestine to sleep routines, from dating to Britney Spears. 

Click here for “Mind the Gap”. 

If you were to read only one thing by me, go here (Aeon article).

If you were to listen to only one interview with me, go here (BBC4 Word of Mouth).

 

Standing on Points: A Podcast on the History and Culture of Punctuation.

A whimsical show featuring strictly-no-rules musings on all things dots and dashes by me & interviews with punctuation fans from poets to designers. 2020 to today. Click here.

2024

‘Druckfrisch’ a literature TV show with critic Dennis Scheck.

A telivised chat on the exclamation mark in German in the Berlin Letter-Museum. 17 March 2024. Click here

‘Florence Hazrat on the history of punctuation and why the exclamation point was invented after the question mark!’

A podcast conversation about all things dots and dashes with David McRaney. Click here.

2023

‘Is the emoji killing the exclamation mark’ in Babel, The Language Magazine.

Yes and no! Find a hard copy to discover more, No 45, Winter 2023. Click here.

‘Perfect Just the Way You Are: In Defence of Slow Reading’ in Oh Reader.

Why we can read just the way we want to, always have, and always will, Issue 013, Fall 2023. Hard copy. Click here.

‘The Book that Made the Bard: 400 Years of Shakespeare’s Folio’ in The Millions.

Shakespeare’s collected works: how they were made, and why they’re crucial, 8 November 2023. Click here.

‘The King’s English? Forgeddabouddit!’ in Literary Review.

Umm, like, totally, dude!  Why bad English is good. A book review. 1 November 2023. Click here.

‘How to exclaim!’ in The Millions.

Five ways how literature saves the exclamation mark from its bad rep, 11 October 2023. Click here.

‘People have ~feelings~ about the Exclamation Point’ for Grammar Girl.

A conversation about ! with Mignon Fogarty for her podcast series on the ins and outs of language, 25 July 2023.

Click here.

‘Exclamation Point in the Sixteenth Century’ for That Shakespeare Life.

A conversation about ! in the Renaissance with Cassidy Cash for her podcast series on all things Shakespeare, 24 July 2023.

Click here.

‘Marks of Civilization: How Punctuation Shaped the Modern World’ for EPOCH.

An essay on the origins of punctuation & its impact on civilisation, 1 June 2023.

Click here.

‘The Bard’s Books: What did Shakespeare Read?’ for Oh, Reader.

An essay on Shakespeare’s reading, 1 June 2023.

Click here.

‘The Politics of Punctuation: Changing History One Mark at a Time’ for Antigone Journal.

An essay on the origins of punctuation & its impact on civilisation, 27 May 2023.

Click here.

‘Word Processing: The exclamation mark has a rich history! And it deserves more respect!’ for CBC Radio.

A conversation about ! with David Common for The Sunday Magazine, 26 March 2023.

Click here.

‘Sometimes it’s too much! But the exclamation point has a point’ in The Washington Post.

A perspective on when using ! is warranted, 17 March 2023.

Click here.

‘Listen! Now!! Don’t miss!!! our show about the exclamation point.’ for The Colin McEnroe Show.

A thirty minute conversation about the exclamation mark with Colin McEnroe, 9 March 2023.

Click here.

‘Is this the end of the exclamation mark?!’ for ABC Radio Australia.

A lively chat on on the past, present, and future of the exclamation mark with Phillip Adams, 14 January 2023. Click here.

‘Exclamation Marks!!’ for Word of Mouth, BBC4.

A jaunty conversation on the life and times of the exclamation mark with Michael Rosen, 11 January 2023. Click here.

2022

‘Lists’ for Free Thinking, BBC3.

An interview on lists in literature & life with three other scholars and writers. 13 December 2022. Click here.

An interview on the exclamation mark with Sean Moncrieff of newstalk radio in Ireland.

21 November 2022.

‘I’m spontaneous! I’m sincere! I’m infantile and deeply annoying! How the exclamation mark divided the world’ in The Guardian.

An essay on the life of ! in modern times from millennials to politics to Twitter. 17 November 2022. Click here.

‘Punctuation is Powerful!!’  in New Humanist (print).

An essay on the history of !, what happens in our brain when we see it, and why women are using more ! than men. Winter 2022.

‘Shouty Jane Austen? On the Evolution of the Exclamation Mark’  in Literary Review (print).

An essay on ! in Austen’s manuscripts, and what happened to them it in the editing process. November 2022. For the paid online version click here.

‘Pause for Thought’ on BBC3 The Essay (radio).

An essay on the virtue of brackets, 6 May. Click here.

‘Under Your Breath: The Biology of Reading’ in Oh, Reader (print). 

An essay on the voice in our heads when reading, 7 June.

2021

‘Comma, Colon, Dot, and Dash: How Punctuation Made Reading Possible’ in Oh, Reader (print).

An essay on how punctuation developed as a reading aid, September 2021.

‘The Innovative Shape of Poems’ on BBC3 Free Thinking (radio).

A postcard on the history of punctuation, and an interview on its role in poetry, 30 June. Click here.

‘Introducing New Generation Thinkers 2021’ on BBC 3 Free Thinking (radio).

An interview on punctuation in history and culture, March. Click here.

2020

‘Counterpoint’ on ABC Radio. 

Interview on punctuation with Amanda Vanstone (former Australian minister), October. Interview starts ca 39 minutes in.  Click here.

‘Beside the Point: Punctuation is Dead, Long Live Punctuation!’ in Aeon (digital).

An essay on the history and future of punctuation, September. Click here.

‘The Conversation’ on YouTube.

Interview on the history of punctuation with historian Paul Hamilton of Glasgow University, September. Click here.

‘Pause and Effect: The Past and Future of Punctuation Marks’ in History Today (print).

An essay on the origins of punctuation and where it’s going, January. Click here

2019

‘All the Names of Green: Days at Lake Geneva’ in Shanti Arts.

A personal essay on exploring Lake Geneva in literature and in situ, July. Click here

2017

‘From the Taming of the Shrew to 10 Things I Hate About You: Taming Wild Women in European Culture’ on the Women Are Boring blog.

An article on the “shrew” figure in culture from folk songs to Shakespeare and adaptations of his works, March. Click here.

2016

‘Society and the Female Voice: Shakespeare’s Singing Madwomen’ on the Women Are Boring blog.

An article on the complex meanings of female song and music-making on the Renaissance stage. September. Click here.

‘Grendel’s Grammar’ on the What Literature Knows about Your Brain blog by Prof. Lyne (Cambridge). 

An article on how language can shape perception with examples from the Old English epic Beowulf. Click here.

2015

‘Music, Language, and Earworms’ on the What Literature Knows about Your Brain blog by Prof. Lyne (Cambridge).

An article on the workings of repetition in music and poetry, December. Click here.

For academic publishing, see profile on LinkedIn here

publications