Karen Smyth

As a literary critic, cultural historian, and creative adaptation practitioner, I have published widely on medieval and early modern literature and heritage. A particular focus has been on issues of place, time, and identity in East Anglian literature. Previously, I collaborated with Isabelle Cochelin (Uni. of Toronto) to co-edit a collection on Medieval Life-cycles for Brepols, following my authorship of a monograph on Imaginings of Time in Lydgate and Hoccleve's Verse (Ashgate). My latest monograph extends into Health Humanities, with a study of time and identity through creative-critical autoethnography (Routledge).

In recent years, I have also been engaged as a medievalist-maker, developing creative adaptations of the past, especially of the fifteenth-to-seventeenth-century Paston Letters. This work builds on my research into how medieval places connect with community storytelling, supported by the AHRC-funded projects 'Preserving Place: Cultural Mapping' with social geographer Andrew Power (Uni. of Southampton) and 'All Our Stories' with UEA's landscape historians, Sarah Spooner and Jon Gregory. 

At UEA, I began as a Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature and then became Associate Professor, where my interdisciplinary interests have also led me into critical heritage studies, Digital Humanities, and Health Humanities. Now, having retired, as an Honorary Professor I am exploring new writing models to bring the past and present into dialogue. This includes creative and cultural adaptations, alternatively embodied practices, and multi-modal storytelling.

Throughout my career, my research has benefited from visiting fellowships at Harvard University, the State University of New York at Binghamton, the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, and from the Royal Historical Society. I have contributed to academia through board service, peer-review panels, consulting and mentorship for national projects, organising heritage and storytelling festivals and curating exhibitions. My media work promotes heritage narratives through regional and national outlets and includes advising on medieval literature for TV programs. Before UEA, I was a Lecturer in Old and Middle English at the University of Nottingham, a Lecturer in Literature with the Open University, and held a postdoctoral role with the Queen's University of Belfast, teaching medieval and early modern literature.

Research Impact

As Co-Director of 'Paston Footprints,' a pioneering heritage brand in East Anglia, I have helped reshape how heritage stories are told and experienced by traditional and non-traditional audiences. Funded by multiple grants and recognised through various awards, this initiative boosts historical literacy and cultural appreciation while also supporting the regional Creative Health agenda, tourism, and placemaking efforts, aligning with the CivicUEA and CreativeUEA priorities. With over sixty regional and national partners, Paston Footprints is the first multi-sector initiative promoting East Anglian heritage. Its co-productions include storymapping, exhibitions, community events, ten Heritage Walks | Paston Footprints,with multi-generational, creative, wellbeing, and experiential activities, and an interactive research portal This Is Paston: Welcome to the World of the Pastons, with digitised letters and 3-D reconstructions of buildings. I previously spent over ten years working on co-productions with Norfolk communities, focusing on medieval figures such as William Cunningham, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, John Lydgate, and medieval drama.