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Research

My previous research centres on visuality and the visual arts in the works of Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996). I focus predominantly on Brodsky's interactions with the cinema, photography, drawings, as well as his use of postcards. Using extensive archival research, I show a series of personal and biographical circumstances that result in his metaphors and poetic imagery related to the visual arts.

My current research centres on Greek literature in Ukraine from the late 18th century to the present. The literature I analyse was written in Modern Greek, Rumeika, and Urum, and its authors knew both Russian and Ukrainian.  Tragically, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has destroyed Ukraine’s Greek communities and the future of both their languages and literatures.

I am a translator of Modern Greek (Zyranna Zateli, Yiannis Efstathiadis, Aggela Kastrinaki) and Russian-language (Aleksandr Kabanov) literature into English.

In addition to my work and research in 19th- and 20th-century Russian literature, I hold various interests in Modern Greek literature, especially the poetry of Constantine Cavafy and George Seferis; I have delivered several lectures on the work of both writers. 

I received my BA (French and Russian) and MSt (Russian) from the University of Oxford.  My Masters dissertation was on Ruben Gallego (winner of the Russian Booker Prize in 2003) and institutionalisation in 20th-century Russian literature. 

 

Teaching 

  • Russian Prelims: Language Papers II A and B (Translation from Russian and comprehension)
  • Russian Prelims: Literature Papers III and IV (all authors)
  • Russian FHS: Language Papers II A and B (Translation from Russian)
  • Russian FHS: Literature Papers VIII, X and XI (all authors), XII, and XIV 
  • Russian Prelims and FHS: Lectures for Prelims Paper III (Lermontov), and FHS Papers VIII, X, XI, and XII
  • Additional tutorials for Overseas and Erasmus students on Russian literature and culture
  • Literature seminars for ab initio Russian students
  • Lectures and dissertation supervision on Ukrainian culture from the 19th century to the Present 
 

Projects

I am a co-founder and trustee of KHARPP (The Kharkiv and Przemyśl Project), a UK-registered charity which has worked, and is working, on delivering aid on the Polish-Ukrainian border and in Kharkiv, Eastern Ukraine: https://kharpp.com/ 

I am an organising member of a collaborative, multi-year project between the University of Oxford and the University of Genoa which looks at the relationship between literature and film. Our first international conference on this topic took place in September 2019 in Genoa, Italy. 

Additionally, I am a founding member of two seminars at the University of Oxford: the Digital Humanities Graduate Research Group and the Russian and Slavonic Graduate Discussion Group.

 

Selected publications

In preparation:

Monograph – Joseph Brodsky and the Visual Arts: Consumer, Practitioner, Interpreter (early 2025)

Edited Volume – A History of the Greeks of Ukraine: from Catherine II to the Present, co-edited with Anna Gedo and Valery Tomazov (2025)

Peer-reviewed Article – ‘Documenting the Past to Document the Present: the Case of Ukraine’s Greeks,’ in ‘Special Issue – "Emergency Response Research and Documentation in a Comparative Perspective,"’ edited by Natalia Otrishchenko and Anna Wylegała, Communist and Post-Communist Studies (2024)

Open Access Academic Article – Review of ‘Khitrovka: The Sign of Four (2023),’ KinoKultura, 83 (2023)

Published:

Open Access Academic Article – Review of ‘Once in the Desert’ (2023), KinoKultura, 81 (2023): https://www.kinokultura.com/2023/81r-odnazhdy-v-pustyne.shtml 

Open Access Academic Article – ‘Greek Literature and Russia's Invasion of Ukraine,’ Greek Studies Now (2022): https://gc.fairead.net/greek-literature-ukraine 

Article – ‘How an Oxford Lecturer became a Volunteer at Przemyśl Train Station: A First-Person Narrative,’ openDemocracy (2022 – in Russian): https://www.opendemocracy.net/ru/rasskaz-volontera-polsha-ukraina-bezhentsy/ 

Open Access Academic Article – ‘Cavafy’s Spaces Through Lotman’s Eyes,’ Greek Studies Now (2020): https://www.torch.ox.ac.uk/article/cavafys-spaces-through-lotmans-eyes 
 

Awards and grants

  • Carnegie Foundation award (2019)
  • Onassis Foundation fellow (2019)
  • MIIS fellowship (2018)