Edward Lear in the Round

Edward Lear is renowned as a writer of nonsense, but he was also a superb natural history illustrator, landscape painter, composer, travel writer and much else. This one day symposium draws on key themes of Ikon’s ground-breaking exhibition – Edward Lear, Moment to Moment – and reads across Lear’s oeuvre, highlighting connections between his diverse activities and achievements. A wide range of established and emerging experts on Lear are speaking at the event, with ample time for questions and discussion.

Speakers include Matthew Bevis (Professor of English Literature, Oxford University), Jasmine Jagger (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Department of English and Creative Writing, University of Roehampton), Sara Lodge (Senior Lecturer in English, University of St Andrews), Noreen Masud (Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature, University of Bristol), Kate Nichols (Birmingham Fellow in British Art, University of Birmingham), Linzi Stauvers (Head of Learning, Ikon Gallery), Jenny Uglow (Author of Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense (2018)), Jonathan Watkins (Director, Ikon Gallery), Cassie Westwood (Independent scholar) and James Williams (Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of York).

This event is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), The Finnis Scott Foundation and University of Oxford.

See symposium schedule below.